Not a masterpiece, but still a very enjoyable film

Rating: 8/10 (3 October 2013)

Titanic was a big departure from the previous films director James Cameron had created. Films like The Terminator, Terminator 2, and Aliens are all sci-fi action CLASSICS and are some of my favorite movies. He had also directed True Lies, a solid action film, but not quite as intriguing, creative or original as the other films I mentioned. He also made The Abyss, which was enjoyable yet forgettable in my opinion. Overall, Cameron really shines and delivers when it comes to making Sci- fi action films that take themselves seriously.
Then Titanic came along. It was his first major film that was not science fiction nor action related. In a sense, Titanic tries to be to Cameron what Schindler's list was to Spielberg. This was Cameron's opportunity to show he had matured and can make a sophisticated film. A film based on a historical event without any elements of fantasy with great performances and emotional depth. Unfortunately, Titanic does not quite reach the levels of greatness that Schindler's list had.
Sad to say, after seeing this movie it is clear that Cameron isn't as versatile as Spielberg and should stick to a specific genre for best results. Not to say Titanic is awful. It is by no means a bad film, however it's not quite a classic because it suffers from being generic at times. Everything relating to the special effects, the sets, the costumes, etc. are not generic. They are all incredibly done and clearly overseen by a great director. What makes the movie generic are the things that separate it from Cameron's previous films: The love story.
If you took away all the thing mentioned above: the great sets, the great visual effects and so on and took everything away from the movie that had to do with the titanic, you would have nothing left but very cliché, by the book characters, plot and dialogue. Jack and Rose's relationship had nothing particularly new or innovative about it at all. Two people in love separated by social class is a story that's been told over and over again ever since Romeo and Juliet.
We've seen this story many times. This would be forgivable, if it wasn't for the fact that it's the core of the movie! Star Wars, in a way does something similar: it takes a story that everybody is familiar with and puts it in a bigger, larger than life setting. However, what gave Star Wars more of a punch than Titanic was that the characters were far more unique and memorable. Take Darth Vader for example and compare him to Caledon Hockley from Titanic. Cal is a character that we've seen in many silly high school comedies: the douche bag with a broom up his ass that we all want to see get his comeuppance at the end.
Darth Vader on the other hand, was nothing like any villain we've seen before and became a cultural icon. I'm not saying every character has to become a part of pop culture for the movie to be good, I'm just saying that that's what's keeping Titanic from being a masterpiece in my opinion. I will say, however, that the film is still really shines during certain parts. The sinking of the Titanic was emotional, yet jaw dropping to watch. The sets were also great, and although I think Jack and Rose might be a bit generic and even a little boring, they are still likable overall and it's sad when Jack dies at the end.
Overall, the movie is over rated, however I still consider it worth watching and entertaining. It's just destined to be compared with other films that reach a higher level of originality and storytelling because well, it's the second highest grossing film of all time. As far as Avatar is concerned, that film even suffers from generic storytelling even more than this one, and I feel that it's a bit of a shame that Cameron had clung to closely to cliché characters and plot lines