Titanic
Starring
•Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater
•Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson
•Billy Zane as Cal Hockley
•Bill Paxton as Brock Lovett
Directed By James Cameron
As you probably know already, this film was hit with many problems during the production. The most well known of these, was the high budget. The film finally came in at around $280 million including marketing costs. James Cameron even gave back his directing fee to help the film along. The only money he made was the script fee. Twentieth Century Fox got so worried about the rising cost of the project, that they sold a lot of the distribution rights to Paramount Studios. So after all this panic and worry what have they got?
Thankfully Fox have got an excellent three hour film. Obviously the film is based on the the maiden voyage the Titanic, but cleverly interwoven is the main story of forbidden love. My friends and I did joke around that we were going to sleep for the first two hours and just watch the end. But after seeing the film. I’m glad I watched all of it.
The film starts in the present day where Lovett is searching the wreckage of the Titanic. He and his team are searching the wreckage for something in particular. They are looking for a necklace which apparently went down with the Titanic. If recovered, it would be the most valuable diamond today. The diving team find an old safe and bring it back to the surface. Everyone starts to celebrate but the party is soon over when the safe proves to be empty. While Lovett is on the phone trying to prove that his Titanic project isn’t a waste of money, the team carefully cleaning up the debris that was in the safe find a drawing of a beautiful nude young girl reclining on a couch. Around her neck is the diamond they are looking for.
Lovett goes on television asking if anyone knows of the girl in the picture. Lovett soon receives a phone call from someone claiming to be the girl in the drawing. They fly her out to the ship where Lovett asks her to remember anything she can. By using very impressive transition shot we are then transported back to Southampton, April 12th, 1912. The Titanic, the largest ship ever built, is currently boarding. There are people in their hundreds come too see the ship sail off. Rose arrives with her mother and fiancé Cal. They’ve got first class accommodation. You get the impression with these first few moments that Rose doesn’t really like Cal. They board the ship.
Meanwhile in a pub just a little further away, Jack and his Italian friend are playing a game of poker. But its a serious game, they’re playing against two (Russian?) men. These two men have placed everything into the betting pot including two tickets for the maiden voyage of Titanic. Much to the annoyance of the two Russians, Jack wins. With only five minutes till departure, Jack and his friend dash for the ship.
A couple of days into the voyage Jack spots Rose on an upper deck. He falls for her instantly and everyone tells him to forget it. But he won’t listen. Around this time we learn that Rose’s marriage is one of convenience. Her family name is strong but it is hiding great debts which they cannot pay off. Cal her fiancé will soon inherit a large fortune. That evening at a dinner party, Rose becomes so pissed with her life she runs out. She heads for the back of the ship. She runs past Jack who is smoking on a bench. She looks down into the sea and then carefully climbs over the railings. She hangs there with tears streaming from her eyes. Jack arrives and calms her down. He persuades her to climb back onto the deck. She does so but stumbles onto the floor. Jack kneels down to help her just as her fiancé and his servant (David Warner) turn up. To their eyes it looks like Jack was going to assault her. But Rose convinces Cal that Jack saved her life. Jack plays along with the story but the servant is extremely suspicious of him.
From here on Jack tries to win her heart but she won’t hear of it. As you’ve probably guessed, they do get together eventually but encounter several problems on the way.
As I said the primary story is the love which grows between Jack and Rose but of course there is the secondary tale of the ship itself. This presents itself at first with conversations between the owner (who wants all six boilers alight and running), the captain (who believes the ship should be run in first) and the designer who is very proud of his ship.
The last third of the film is starts with the brilliant line ’’oh bollocks! ICEBERG!!’’. From this point on Cameron goes to work as an exciting action hour comes to play. Not only is the ship sinking but Jack and Rose are trying to escape from Cal. I don’t really wast to say any more as I’ll end up explaining the entire story.
This is the first time I’ve seem Kate Winslet in a film and she’s not only beautiful but a great actor as well. Leonardo DiCaprio is just as brilliant. They fit together so well. Billy Zane puts on a decent enough accent to play the part and you can soon learn to hate him, especially at the end.
So, Digital Domain couldn’t handle all the effects in time. Industrial Light & Magic lent a hand (at a price obviously). Several smaller companies helped out as well. What was the result? A big toy boat on a bath!! ONLY JOKING!! The special effects are truly astounding. All through the film my mind is saying ’’John its only CGI’’ but my eyes reply ’’Yeah but its looking so damned real!!’’. You’ll believe they really did build another Titanic and sail it again (by the way, that was one of their original production ideas).
The sinking of the Titanic is spectacular. It takes about half an hour but it is in no way boring at all. You really do wonder if Jack and Rose will survive. People keep falling/diving off the ship and some people hit stuff on the way down. OUCH!!
Sitting here typing this out. I’ve just remembered something. They only built half a ship. Just one side. For scenes requiring the other side, anything with text or numbers was reversed. Then later, the film print would be reversed. The final effect looking like the other side of the ship. (Just think about for a moment its not that confusing). You’ll believe that they built a whole ship.
This film may not be the most action packed, gun toting, blood feast, another tedious sequel, sci-fi extravaganza, but go and see it. Yes its a love story but that didn’t bother me. Its a great story and worth every penny. James Cameron once again makes another film to impress us.