Two Films in One: one good, the other not

Rating: 4/10 (2 June 2003)

Warning: Some spoilers here, just in case if you haven't seen the movie in the past six years (except the iceberg, of course)

This movie, in my opinion, consisted of two different films. The first was a contrived love story that was clearly created by someone who doesn't have a clue about how people fall in love. I didn't buy the love story between DiCaprio's and Winslet's characters. It seemed to me like, "we love each other but it can't work out because we're from different sides of the tracks, so lets just have sex and make the most of it while the cruise lasts because when it ends, I'm marrying for money." Maybe something like that could happen, but I doubt it. Of course, the ship hits the iceberg (NO SPOILER HERE)and that's when the second film starts up. This is where James Cameron is in his element: action. Characters that I couldn't possibly care less about before the iceberg hit all the sudden began acting like real people. The only characters I did care about from beginning to end was Kathy Bates' character(a true credit to her talent), and, strangely enough, Billy Zane's character. I hate to say it, but I was glad his character survived the sinking (the manner in which he does it defined his character more than anything earlier in the movie.) In my opinion, James Cameron wanted to make a film about the sinking of the Titanic, but sold out to the almighty dollar and, pardon the pun, sank an otherwise good idea by a terrible love story in order to cover the young female demographic. You want to know why Cameron was so happy at the Oscars when it won best picture, because he couldn't believe the Academy bought it hook, line and sinker. It just goes to show you that every once in a while the cream (LA Confidential, in this case) sometimes gets bogged down at the top by the crud.