It’s not a surprise why “Titanic” ended up becoming one of the highest grossing movies of all time and was later de-throned by “Avatar” by the very same director that brought us the aforementioned movie. Both films are so utterly broadly written and vague in their mass appeal that they’re pretty much guaranteed to be massive hits. With his hand on the button of the latest special effects, and a script that can be as ho hum and derivative as possible without a single complaint from his audience, “Titanic” is one of the two major blockbusters from director James Cameron. And like his future massive hit “Avatar,” it is an immense crowd pleaser because it doesn’t challenge or push its audience to think. It merely offers up vague characters, hackneyed archetypes, and a bang up special effects presentation that is still the small highlight in a giant disappointment.
Back in 1997 I still recall “Titanic” being the film everyone was talking about, and after three tries (once on VHS, twice on cable television), I still find it difficult to sit through it the entire way. One thing that is certain is that though director Cameron never challenges his audience in his films, “Titanic” was a challenge for me since it’s over three hours in length and still one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. It’s over wrought, badly written, badly acted, and has one of the most manipulative climaxes I’ve ever seen. With the final sequence of the Titanic sinking from the gigantic iceberg, causing the massive flood on the ship that took the lives of many people, Cameron plays his audience like a Violin in an almost Pavlovian technique.
He tugs at our heart strings with melodramatic manipulative scenes that are intended to have a giant banner on the screen flashing “Cry Now!” to the crowd. There are people falling to their deaths, there’s a little girl being taken away by rushing water, there’s the loyal captain who is ready to sink with his ship, and yes, there’s even an elderly couple lying in bed together prepared to die beside one another as the water pours in from every direction. I was almost expecting Cameron to feature an insert of a sad clown holding two puppies in his hands as he drowns in his cabin. Director James Cameron takes one of his most beloved historical incidents and transforms it in to a McDonald’s product with none of the dignity we saw in past iterations of the Titanic sinking like “A Night to Remember.”
There’s a theme song, a bright atmosphere, a terribly broad love story about class warfare that we’ve seen a thousand times before, and an artificial empathy for these characters intent on gauging audiences more than relying on genuine emotions. Director Cameron displays incredible foresight, though, banking on the appeal of Leonardo DiCaprio, a young man who, at the time, was on the precipice of becoming a teen heart throb. Adding some elegance is Kate Winslet, whose character is terribly superficial, but attractive in many respects. Of course the story between Jack and Rose is musty and dusty. It’s almost like something out of “Dirty Dancing.”
It’s beat for beat, sans the climactic dance sequence. Jack is the low class worker, Rose is the high class socialite bored with her lifestyle. She finds a new vigor and lust for life when she meets Jack, and the two form a passionate relationship that involves nude sketches, and foggy windows. Of course, the classes don’t mix and it inevitably transforms in to a violent free for all. Billy Zane is, of course, the villain in this piece playing Evil McScalliwag. Who’d have guessed? The man usually plays nice guys, right? And if director Cameron isn’t quite sure you’re in the fetal position weeping, the entire story is reflected by Rose in modern times, a withered old woman still traumatized by the events of the ship.
Everyone else’s conflicts seem null and void. I often wonder, did the crew discovering the Titanic take interviews from everyone that survived the Titanic, or did they just ask Rose? What made her so special? Was everyone else just not worth focusing on? I guess people are just in love with romance, no matter how derivative or dunderheaded it may be. Just look at the box-office numbers for this film. Still a long, tedious, one-dimensional exploration in to the power of love and how film directors can manipulate an audience as blatantly and shamelessly as ad executives, “Titanic” is one of the worst films I’ve ever been forced to sit through.
too damn long and boring, okay your in love with the steerage kid, we get it, just get to the damn sinking already, which was the ONLY good part.
skip this movie, if you want to watch something that doesnt make your ass sore, just try “A night to remember” or the short film “The last signals”, which is only on youtube, you wont regret it.
and dont bother buying the soundtrack, the damn vocals ruin “A party in third class”
they just couldnt leave them out?
stupid cameron.
You sound like someone who enjoys the transformers films. “Just get to the big booms and the shiny stuff! Too much talking. Wahhh!”
The sinking is not the point. The point is the doomed romance between two people from different walks of life. We have to see them fall in love. If you walked in to the theater expecting nothing but a ship sinking, that’s your own fault. It’s like watching Godfather and saying “Just get to the assassins and hits already!”
Stupid Cameron? You mean the same James Cameron who made hundreds of millions from the film and won best director for the movie at the Oscars– as well as the movie winning best picture at the Oscars, as well.
I’ll ask it again. What is about the internet that makes random people they’re experts on things like sports and filmmaking and other forms of performance art?
HaHaHa this dimwitted review makes me LoL.
Redundant comment is redundant!
“What made Rose so special?” It was stated early in the movie that they were looking for the “Heart of the Ocean”, and very few people knew of its existence. Old Grandma Rose claimed to be the girl in the painting, and knew about the massive diamond that the people were searching for. That’s what made her special, they never really gave a shit about the Titanic, they just wanted that diamond. Hence why she dropped it into the ocean instead of handing it over. I’m really not sure how you missed that, since you’re supposedly a film critic And yes, the class warfare romance stories have been done many times before, but it was done well for this movie, and the setting was impeccable, and replicated with reference to actual blueprints from the ship when they built the sets. Every room in the movie is identical to how it would have looked in the year 1912 on board the actual Titanic. That alone is impressive.The under-the-sea modern day portions were all genuine depictions of the sunken Titanic, and the acting was much better than what I normally see in theaters. I really am sorry you didn’t enjoy the movie, but you just come across as being uninformed. The only actual believable claim you make is that the acting was bad, but that’s rather subjective. Literally none of your other complaints are up for debate, you’re just wrong.
Wow you are fucking crazy
This is the best movie of all time
Wow, we must have watched two different movies. If you bothered to pay attention, the entire movie was about the diamond, which the Rose had, hence the reason they interviewed her. That’s when she decided to tell her side of the tale. It’s a romantic drama that happens on Titanic. I think the scriptwriters did really well with the pacing of the love story considering Titanic only had a day and a half before it sank.
What on earth were you expecting? More fleshed out characters and exploring the love story more would have made the movie longer and you’re already complaining of the three-hour running time.
Again it’s a drama. Expect manipulation not a head scratching thriller. Though I’m not a James Cameron fan (he loves himself too much) this movie was very impressive.
The diamond part was the stupidest and least realistic. She could have created a foundation to send underprivileged kids to college or something, but threw it into the sea as tribute to a one night stand she had eighty years ago.
Ha! “tribute to a one night stand”. Genius :D
The one night stand that also saved her life 2+ times, rescued her from an abusive relationship, died holding her hand, while watching over a thousand people die around her nearly dead herself…yes…just a one night stand…lol.
Forget it, Isabel. Every movie has “haters.” Fact is that the majority of people loved the movie and it’s one of the most iconic films ever made. Something that will be remembered long after we’re all gone.
If you thought Titanic was manipulative, please for God’s sake don’t watch Gone with the Wind, with the hour-long crane shot of the dead soldiers. Also, avoid Romeo and Juliet at all costs because Shakespeare reused archetypes written by Greek playwrights almost word for word.This is one of the worst, most idiotic film reviews I have ever read.
So you admit Titanic is manipulative. Half the battle won already
By that logic, Roman Holiday, Casablanca, Gone with the wind, It happened one night, and many other classics are horrible movies.
Armond White, is that you?
Come now, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but massive blockbusters like this are meant to give the people what they want. Not every movie has to appeal to hipsters and bore us to tears.
The movie is simply one of the most iconic, beloved films of all time. Critics, moviegoers, members of the film industry, etc. All the major groups loved the film, therefor it was a success in every way. Heck, it won best picture at the Oscars, that means the academy voted on it as being the best film of the year. That includes people far more educated about cinema than any of us. What is about the internet that makes people like you think they are the end all be all of filmmaking? Seriously, what brings on this arrogance. Please explain. What have you written, directed, starred in? It’s like me showing up to a Miami Heat game and teaching their coach and players about basketball despite never having played or coached at any level.
I wouldn’t say they were wrong, just that audiences love pablum, and Cameron doles it out and they open wide prepared to feed without fail. Avatar, for example. It’s a shame.
Ah, see. There it is. The hipster logic. “Oh, everyone likes something I don’t, so that must mean they’re all morons who will accept whatever turd is handed to them. I don’t like it because I’m smarter than everyone else. Hooray for me.!”
It just shows the level of delusion you and the reviewer have. Now that’s a shame.
I guess you think that the members of the academy are all wrong too. Not to mention that the majority of critics liked or loved Titanic.
this movie sucked
Watched this movie again after 15 years and said to myself “I thought this was a great movie back in ’97…What was I thinking?”. I guess I did get taken in by the director. This movie, with its lame stereotypes( the evil rich guy out to win at all costs), the snobby mother who still wants first class treatment even as the ship is sinking, the cheesy one liners “I’d rather be his whore than your wife”…and so on….When i saw this movie in ’97, I gave it 4 stars, today I give it 2.5 max.
I just didn’t like the movie. I found the whole thing to be so boring. I wouldn’t have watched it, but my mom insisted on dragging my 4-year-old ass to the film in ’97 and bawled throughout the whole thing. I cried because I couldn’t understand why she was crying. It was traumatic.
I did rewatch it, but my opinion hasn’t changed much in the last 16 years. Boooring! :P
This movie looked and sounded like 1997 superficially dressed up like 1912. The dreariest, most obvious dialog I’ve ever heard in a movie.
And you were expecting hipster dialogue?
“Titanic” was a challenge for me since it’s over three hours in length and still one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. It’s over wrought, badly written, badly acted, and has one of the most manipulative climaxes I’ve ever seen.”
The “critic” who wrote this obviously doesn’t understand filmmaking. Not every movie is about challenging the audience. Many times it’s okay to just entertain us and give us something that causes us to escape to another world. And badly acted? Is this guy a critic or an internet troll. Pretty much all the performances in the movie were acclaimed by most critics.
You want a movie based on an actual tragic event in world history to help you escape to another world? That makes a lot of sense.
Way to miss the point. Escape to another world means to become immersed in the product. Titanic was based on an actual tragedy (although the love story was fabricated) but we as an audience completely fall into the story and forget our own troubles and lives. That’s the mark of a good blockbuster. It keeps you riveted and immersed the whole time, you cry for the characters as if they’re real people.
Hipsters gotta hate, though. Doesn’t change how beloved the film is and how successful it was- box office, Oscar wins, etc.
“I always get a kick out of random people on the internet acting like
they know more about filmmaking and acting than massively successful
directors and actors–”
You’re noting the irony of this statement, I pray.
There would be irony if I was acting like an expert about any of these things. I’m not. I’m deferring to the word of respected members of the industry as well as critics who are genuinely respected for their knowledge of cinema. I NEVER once implied that I know more about filmmaking and acting than massively successful directors and actors.
Nice try.
If the reviewer had merely said the movie wasn’t his cup of tea, there wouldn’t be any problem. But no, he had to go out of his way to insult the millions of people who like the movie by implying that they’re simpletons who enjoy whatever trash is shoveled into their mouths.
I can see it now-
Reporter: So what are you doing next, Mr. Cameron?
James Cameron: Well, I’m going to be doing heavy edits on Titanic to completely change the movie.
Reporter: What? Why? That’s one of the most beloved movies of all time.
James Cameron: Yeah, but I just heard that a couple of guys on a website called cinema-crazed hate it and think it’s one of the worst movies ever made.
Reporter: Uh, so? They obviously don’t understand just how much this movie touched people. And isn’t that what making large scale films is all about, inspiring millions and giving them something they love?
James Cameron: Uh, well, yeah, I guess.
Reporter: And sir, no movie has been loved by 100% of people. If you search hard enough, you’ll find that every iconic film has at least a couple hundred “haters.” Hell, two nights ago, I saw a post on IMDb about how Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep are hammy hacks. You just have to ignore the ignorant few and focus on how your movies impact the majority of the free thinking world. You can’t change your movies just to please some hipsters who think Slamdance films are well-made.
James Cameron: You know what, you’ve got a point there, buddy.
Reporter: Thank you, sir.
James Cameron: Now run along and get me some coffee.
I don’t understand how you feel Cameron manipulated the audience by
showing the sinking of the the ship. Are you aware that the sinking of
the Titanic is actual history and that people did in fact die? How
would you like Cameron to portray the ending? Aliens descend and hold
the ship up while we wait for the Carpathia to arrive? A major theme
of the movie was to show man’s arrogance with his technological
creations, a concept that perhaps hits too close to home for you.
I’m actually very very well aware the Titanic was an actual event unlike most of the film’s fans. And yes, aliens would have made the movie better. Maybe they could have explained why Jack’s body sinks when humans actually float.
I digress. As I stated it’s all manipulative hackery to gauge emotions from the audience in a vapid story. And I’m sorry you think I’m arrogant for expressing an opinion that’s not yours.
First of all Jack was frozen in the movie because it was freakin cold in the water so his body weight plus his body being frozen would probably pull someone down like an anchor