Titanic (1997)

James Cameron's Titanic (1997) scarcely needs an introduction. A phenomenon when released, it smashed box office records, played for nearly a year and won 11 Oscars. Then came the backlash: resentment at Cameron's grandstanding ("I'm king of the world!"), thousands of parodies, millions of snarky internet reviews. A successful 2012 rerelease restored some of its luster, no doubt helped by its creators' subsequent successes.
Titanic certainly isn't a bad movie. It delivers the expected spectacle, adding likeable leads and impeccable period detail. Yet anytime Cameron tries to transcend popcorn entertainment, Titanic feels hollow.
Aged Rose Calvert (Gloria Stuart) watches scientist Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) recover a drawing from the wreck of the Titanic. In 1912, rich, teenaged Rose (Kate Winslet) is unhappily engaged to snobbish heir Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). Onboard she's saved from suicide by Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a free-spirited steerage passenger. The two fall in love, infuriating Cal and Rose's mother (Frances Fisher). But their romance takes a backseat to history, as the Titanic hits an iceberg.
Titanic remains a benchmark for special effects work. Cameron employs a seamless mixture of models, computer effects and green screen work that have rarely been topped. The visuals are absolutely stunning: scenes like the Titanic "stretching her legs" inspire awe as few other CGI-era set pieces do (Jurassic Park comes close). Seeking verisimilitude, he also restages Ken Marschall's iconic paintings: the Titanic half-sunk as flares burst overhead, corridors flooding with seawater. Only occasional long shots give the game away.
Even viewers who dislike Titanic's romance give the sinking high marks. Cameron makes the last hour a bravura set piece, tragedy dwarfing its two leads. Cameron skillfully ratchets up the intensity as the disaster's scale becomes apparent: nonchalance gives way to scrambling for lifeboats, panicked leaps off the stern, a thousand splashing victims chillingly silenced. Moments that could be cloying (a montage set to Nearer My God To Thee) become strikingly effective. James Horner tops things off with a wonderfully emotive score.
Too bad about scenes featuring humans. The main culprits are Jack and Rose, who come on like leads from a bad high school play. Neither's remotely credible: Rose is a very modern heroine who swears, smokes, collects art and reads Freud; Jack a footloose starving artist, teaching Rose how to hawk loogies and flip the bird. Reams of painful dialog ("Draw me like one of your French girls") exacerbate the cheesiness. Titanic never grows beyond its snobs vs. slobs dynamic, contrasting the lively poor with the stuffy rich.
Other dramatic scenes aren't much better. Besides cartoon villain Cal, Cameron reduces other passengers and crew to paltry vignettes. When not adding ridiculous set pieces (does the sinking need a shootout to be exciting?) he lifts whole scenes from A Night to Remember. Some bits border on slander, like depicting Officers Murdoch and Lightoller as trigger-happy martinets or crewmembers locking steerage passengers below decks - inspired by the 1943 German Titanic. Cameron, so thoughtful in his science fiction, treats reality as a realm of clichés.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet embody youthful awkwardness. The two effectively spark off each other, but their performances veer drastically from charming to terrible. That Leo and Kate salvage anything from the chintzy characterizations is a credit to their skill. Cameron's script would sabotage Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, let alone these talented but still relatively untested stars.
Certainly, Cameron locks a solid supporting cast into one note performances. Victor Garber (Thomas Andrews) is pained concern, Bernard Hill (Captain Smith) unshakable dignity, Jonathan Hyde (Bruce Ismay) pompous arrogance, Frances Fisher (Rose's mom) icy hauteur. David Warner (as Cal's ruthless retainer) and Kathy Bates (a lively Molly Brown) fare better, but Billy Zane's ghastly villain nearly derails the film on his own.
Titanic's one film where battle lines are clearly drawn. Its fans needn't be phased by criticism; detractors won't be convinced of its virtues. Groggy remains modestly entertained but mostly unimpressed.