The Titans of Greek mythology tried to rule the heavens, only to succumb to Zeus. So too, the Titanic sought to rule the sea only the end up under it. Now James Cameron floats forth a cinematic enterprise bearing the name of doomed giants, and like its predecessors, the film is big and impressive, but flawed.
Titanic tried to "do it all." A scientific documentary, a history lesson, a love story, and an action adventure flick, all rolled into one. The result is lengthy--3 hours and 27 minutes--and the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
The three major threads in the film might be summarised as the present, the past, and the love story. The present features Bill Paxton as Brock Lovett who leads a rescue team searching the wreckage of the Titanic for a lost diamond. They uncover a sketch which in turn uncovers the model for sketch, a woman named Rose, who, at age one hundred and one has never told her story.
Between them, Rose and Lovett recreate the fatal maiden voyage of Titanic. Lovett demonstrates how and why the ship sank, using sophisticated and impressive computer simulations. Rose fills in the human interest by telling her story. As Rose narrates her story, the scenes come to life with Kate Winslet in the central role.
Young Rose is none too pleased with life. She is caught in an oppressive marriage contract with a pompous and arrogant businessman. Her unhappiness causes her to bite out at everyone, insulting the ship's designer for his Freudian fetish with size, and calculating that the capacity of Titanic's lifeboats is far less than the number of passengers.
Smart girl, Rose, and like an Ibsen heroine, she is stifled by patriarchal society and yearns to shake off her shackles. Enter the lad from the lower decks, Leonardo DiCaprio, who obviously has to provide the sweep her off her feet. The romance is pretty ho-hum stuff, but Winslet and DiCaprio are easy on the eye and this kind of feel good mush easily maintains the suspension of disbelief.
Finally, on comes the iceberg and the history lesson. Its most impressive to see the monster ship tip up and crack and snap and moan and flood and bruise and bust and break, but this segment of the movie becomes enamoured with its own special effects. Seeing the huge propellers loom above the silent ocean as the ship makes its way to inevitable doom almost in slow motion is really spectacular, but after an hour or so, it becomes just a little overdone.
In conclusion, Titanic is certainly impressive and in parts interesting, enjoyable, and even fascinating. Separately all three aspects of the movie are wonderful. The cinematography is spectacular, the facts about Titanic are captivating, and the romance is brought to life wonderfully by Winslet and DiCaprio. Both certainly earn their Golden Globe nominations. But in the end, just as Rose has suggested throughout the film, size isn't everything, and might doesn't always make right, this film may be better if it were a little less lengthy.