Rating: M – Contains low level offensive language
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and Billy Zane
Director: James Cameron (Avatar, Titanic)
The Premise>> 84 years later, a 100-year-old woman named Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story to her granddaughter Lizzy Calvert, Brock Lovett, Lewis Bodine, Bobby Buell and Anatoly Mikailavich on the Keldysh about her life set in April 10th 1912, on a ship called Titanic when young Rose boards the departing ship with the upper-class passengers and her mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, and her fiancé, Caledon Hockley. Meanwhile, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson and his best friend Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets to the ship in a game. And she explains the whole story from departure until the death of Titanic on its first and last voyage April 15th, 1912 at 2:20 in the morning.
The Review>> For the most part, there won’t be many people in the western world who have not watched Titanic. Of course most might not have seen it on the big Screen in the cinema, but with dvds easily available, you get the picture. Of course what amazed me was the number of times a lot of people my age went and saw this film at the movies when it came out originally in the 90’s. I know of people that paid to see the film in the cinema over five times and in some cases over ten times. At the NZ premiere of this new 3D release of Titanic there was a woman who claimed to have watched it over 150 times. Do the maths on that, at over three hours per screening that means that this woman has spent over 60 8hour work days watching just one film, over and over.
So how does it stack up in 3D? Well let of start by saying that I took my eleven year old daughter to see this film and was expecting her to get restless and maybe even myself too. I haven’t watched this film since it’s original cinematic release. I had truly forgotten how well paced the film is. I found myself completely drawn into the story again and my daughter, well she was captivated and loved it. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I still found myself enjoying the story as it unfolded. The characters are so well portrayed that you can’t help but to love or hate them. Billy Zane plays the bastard so very believably that you wonder if he might be a it of a dick in real life. He has made a it of a career of playing that sort of personality and even when he has tried to play the good guy in films like the Phantom, he has still come across as an unlike able character. Whereas there is the other extreme with Rose and Jack, the underdogs whom you can’t help but root for.
This really is one of those tales that lasts the test of time very well. I am excited that not only do the diehard Titanic fans get to relive this story in a cinema, but also that a whole new generation can experience the movie that was the first to break a billion at the box office and is destined to become one of only two films to break two billion at the box office. Both of which will be James cameron films. I like to think that the reason Cameron has released this film again in the cinemas was to be able to afford to buy land in New Zealand. Having generated over four billion dollars at the box office is still not enough to buy a decent house in this home to overly inflated real estate prices.
The Verdict>> Stands the test of time brilliantly and the 3D is tasteful.
Some extra bits to know about the film and to look out for>> The studios wanted Matthew McConaughey, but James Cameron insisted on Leonardo DiCaprio.
Before announcing development of this film, director James Cameron shot footage of icebergs off the coast of Nova Scotia under the pretense of making a film titled “Planet Ice”.
When James Cameron decided to include real footage of the Titanic’s remains on the seabed, he did not want to simply shoot from inside a submersible as had been done for the IMAX documentary Titanica. To allow filming from outside the sub, Cameron’s brother Mike Cameron and Panavision developed a deep-sea camera system capable of withstanding the 400 atmospheres of pressure at that depth.
The deep-sea camera held only 12 minutes’ worth of film, but each dive took many hours. To make the best use of his resources, James Cameron had a 1/33 scale model of the wreck constructed and used it to rehearse each dive. The Russian sub operators would walk around the model ship holding model subs in their hands as Cameron explained the shots he wanted.
12 dives were necessary. On the last two dives, shots were taken by sending a remotely operated vehicle into the wreck; James Cameron had intended using this device only as a prop.
For some wreck interior shots, a set was constructed and submerged.
James Cameron went on the dives to the real Titanic himself, and found it an overwhelming emotional experience to actually see it. He ended up spending more time with the ship than its living passengers did.
Most of the decor on the ship was either reconstructed by or under the supervision of researchers of the White Star Line, the original company which constructed and furnished the Titanic.
When Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) is preparing to draw Rose (Kate Winslet), he tells her to “Lie on that bed, uh I mean couch.” The line was scripted “Lie on that couch”, but DiCaprio made an honest mistake and James Cameron liked it so much he kept it in.
James Cameron was adamant about not including any song in the film, even over the closing credits. Composer James Horner secretly arranged with lyricist Will Jennings and singer Céline Dion to write “My Heart Will Go On” and record a demo tape which he then presented to Cameron, who responded very favorably and included the song over the closing credits. The song went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Big Screen NZ 