great ship, bad love story.....

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2005)

OK, so Titanic may not be everyones idea of a great film. And I agree with them. Despite his good intentions, Cameron has apparently used the tragic disaster that was Titanic as the backdrop for a forbidden romance. Now I am an enthusiast of the Titanic, and know quite a bit about it. And because of this, I raised a few questions in my head. What about the Californian, the ship whose captain was blamed for standing by and doing nothing (which was proved wrong 60 years after the sinking)? If you look carefully as the ship leaves port, the stacks are red! Now this is potentially historically accurate. Had the ship lived, she would have these colours put on when Cunard took over the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company (or White Star Line). But for the film it is wrong. There was too much emphasis on the love story, but seeing the two lovebirds run around the huge interior of the ship did give a nice tour! However, it did start to get annoying after a while, because I only watched it for the ship! The underwater scenes were credible, well executed, and looked very good. It was a very good and dramatic way that the ship was portrayed sinking, and when the stern is in the air, and the lights go out and the ship breaks her back, it really brought a few shivers as the windmill sized screws slammed back into the water, crushing a few people on the way. In conclusion, the story of the sinking was very well played out, the love story was good to a point, after which it got a bit tedious, and the whole essence of "panic" as the ships complement realise the great liner is irreversibly sinking beneath their feet is excellent. I especially enjoyed watching the engine room scenes. However, if Cameron ever makes another film about a luxury liner going down (Lusitania HINT HINT) then would he be so kind as to not put a love story into it, because really, the film only succeeded because girls went to see the "pretty boy" actor make his debut, and ended up sobbing because he had to "die".
watch it if you love the RMS Titanic, if you don't, then don't watch it at all, because 3 hours of Leo D Capro professing his love to Winslet will bore you, as he really doesn't look like he's seen the action in this film!