An Epic Scale

Rating: Null/10 (8 September 2004)

Released around the Christmas season of 1997,this was an epic scale of a motion picture event. Director James Cameron's three hour mega-budget picture has its brushes with disaster with a mammoth budget(which at the time this picture was made,it took two years to make and was the most expensive movie ever made at $285 million,the most costliest movie to date)and a theatrical release that seemed unattainable. But instead of reaping hordes of criticism for what many have thought was one of the biggest joke in Hollywood,Cameron received accumlated praise and a boatload of Oscar hardware for his labor of love,which rack up the Academy Awards with 11 Oscars including Best Picture,and has tied the record with "Ben Hur",and most recently the Lord Of The Rings final installment to the trilogy,"The Return Of The King",as the most record number of Oscars to be presented in Hollywood.
This was indeed,"Gone With The Wind" on an epic scale.
This was in fact a grand love story that happens to have the sinking of an historic ship as a backdrop,real characters and fictional characters are blended for a detailed re-enactment of the luxury liner's first and last voyage. The main characters,two lovebirds Jack Dawson(Leonardo DiCaprio),and debutante Rose Bukater(Kate Winslet)are from different ends of the economic and social ladder. DiCaprio and Winslet are dynamic as the star-crossed lovers and make the running time of 198 minutes less a chore to sit through. The special effects are impressive with a life sized version of the ship just built for the film. Cameron's prowess as a storyteller keeps the outcome of the ship suspenseful and tense even though the ending is no secret. The film contains an all-star cast including Billy Zane,Bill Paxton,Kathy Bates,Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart(in her final film role),Jonathan Hyde-White,Danny Nicci, Bernard Hill,Victor Garber,Bernard Fox,Suzy Amis,and David Warner.
The film has won numerous awards since its release and in 1997,it was the first film to win both the MTV Awards,Golden Globes and Oscars in that same year,not to mention Best Musical Score from composer James Horner and Best Song of that year,"My Heart Will Go On" sung by Celine Dion. Also to point,during its release,"Titanic" went on to break box office records,and it did just that but dethroning the all-time box office champ,"Star Wars",not to mention other box-office records as well including "Raiders Of The Lost Ark","ET",and others at the time of its release,since then that record has been shattered by the most recent "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy and the "Harry Potter" series.
Released by two major Hollywood studios,Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century-Fox,the film itself has become one of the spectacular Hollywood greats. A grand classic.
MPAA Rating:"PG-13"-For Brief Nudity,Action/Adventure Situations including Peril,Violence,and Brief Language.