Special effects don't make a movie

Rating: 6/10 (1 February 2003)

I have to admit I enjoyed Billy Crystal's Oscar night parody more
than I enjoyed the film. True, it does boast some superb visual
effects, and the sets are truly remarkable, but was this film really
worth 11 Oscars? I think not. As usual Hollywood distorts historical
fact with romantic sideshows, and although one cannot help but
admire the effort and expense of the film, there has to be more to
an epic than high budgets and pretty actors. Winslet and de Caprio
look out of place in such a grand design, and the sub-plot of a
psychopathic Zane intent on dastardly revenge seem to pour water
on what could have been a triumph (no pun intended). All that was
missing from his performance was the tweaking of a villainous
moustache. Disappointing.