Written and Directed by James Cameron
Music by James Horner
Actors: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gloria Stuart, Billy Zane, Bill
Paxton, and about a couple of thousands of extras and stunt people.

When the budget of this movie went seriously over the expected number, its
creator Jim Cameron offered the studios (Paramount and Fox) to give up his
8 million dollar directing fee and only take the wage for the screenplay
that he wrote, as he claimed, in six weeks. Well, in my opinion, he made
the wrong offer. The studio should give him the directing fee, but take
away his writing fee, and even maybe fine him a couple of thousand dollars
for his script.

Meet Rose, 101 years old (played by Gloria Stuart), brought onto a Russian
submarine by the treasure hunter played by a blond Bill Paxton, to
discuss the whereabouts of a huge diamond neckless, said to be lost in the
famous tragedy of the sinking of Titanic 84 years ago. Rose, then 17,
went through physical and emotional heaven and hell, and lives to tell her
story on that "unsinkable" ship which sank during its first voyage across
the Atlantic Ocean. The story unfolds through old Rose's narration.

Meet the young Rose (played by Kate Winslet), unhappily engaged to Cal
Hockley (Billy Zane), the heir of a billionare. The first sight of her
tells the audience that she is a free soul underneath the restrictive
dresses. She's your typical bird in a cage, imprisoned by her snobby and
greedy mother and her ignorant, arrogant fiance. She is surrounded by a
bunch of evil rich people, who don't know the names of Picaso or Freud.
In her desperation, she tries to commit suicide by jumping off the ship,
and, sure enough, is saved by a young man of her destiny.

Meet Jack, the young guy who saves Rose from suicide. He's free-spirited,
fun, brave, open, nice, and in case you still don't think it's cliched
enough, he's also a poor, undiscovered but talented artist. Is there any
question that Rose will be swept off her feet by this adventurous young
man of lower social class, who won the ticket on Titanic from a poker
game? Is there any question that she will be charmed the daylight out of
her by the fun-loving, care-free, romanticized poor people living
underneath the first class passengers who party all night? Is there any
question on who's going to be the villains but the evil rich people in her
life, who are determined to keep the lovers apart?

Like another exceptionally long film, the last year's "Hamlet". Titanic
is an extremely uneven film with some genuine brilliance and some
unforgivable flaws. OK, maybe there is only one hole about Titanic, but
it's big enough to sink the entire ship, no matter how big it is -- The
screenplay.

I had doubts about this film long before I saw it. It is difficult (no
kidding) to write a teenage, first-love kind of romance, the "boy meets
girl" kind of romance (Cameron's own words) and make it work. But then
it's doable, as Robert Louis Stevenson had written so neatly, or as
Cameron himself has done so touchingly in his earlier "Terminator" (1984).
So I had hopes that it might just work. Boy was I disappointed! For two
days, since I saw this film, I have been thinking just what went wrong.
Could it be the much too cliched plot, borrowed from much too old romances
written by the idealistic rich people of the 19th century who romanticized
the poor? Could it be the incredibly shallowness of the characters, who
are given as much depth as a piece of typing paper? Could it be the
laughable villains, who are so cartoonish that they are hardly evil?
Above all, I think it's the dialogue throughout the film, that completely
wipes out its chance to become a good movie. "To me, it was a slave ship,
I was being dragged to America in chains." "I'm like a tumbleweed in the
wind." "It's unfair to put this burden on MY shoulders." "Promise me,
you'll never give up." (like "Promise me you'll come back for me." in
the "English Patient.") The ghastly lines made me cringe every time the
two leading characters open their mouth. When Rose says "I was screaming
inside, and nobody cares." I was also screaming inside "STOP IT!!! STOP
SPEAKING!!!"

The dialogues seem to be lifted directly from a paperback romance. But it
seems to be the writer's intention to be so. He says, "Jack is a 90's
guy." Yet, he misses the point that being contemporary is not the same as
being bland and inappropriate. So many lines, so many jokes are
completely out of place that they bring out embarrassment rather than
laughter. Most of the romantic words coming out of DiCaprio's mouth to
express his affection are contrived, unrealistic, and even laughable.
Neither in the 90s, nor the teens, would anyone speak like that, except in
Danielle Steel's books. There is so much cheese in it that I almost
choked on it.

Cheesy as it is, there are plenty of wonderful moments throughout the
film. Almost every silent moment ranges from likable to beautiful. There
is chemistry between the two leads, even though not as strong as it ought
to be. When the young lovers stare at each other as she standing in the
descending lifeboat, when he draws a sketch of her in nude. Yet, whenever
one opens his/her mouth, the moment is ruined instantly by the unbearable
dialogues. Other characters' lines are no better, and none of the
character is memorable; none has enough depth to stand on its own. Over
and over again, I was let down by the simplistic portrayal of the
villains. Rose's mother had only one chance to develop a tiny bit of
complexity, in the mean time, Rose's agony and struggle could be much more
profound, yet the chance is gossly missed. There is more that one time,
that depth could be given to Cal, the fiance from hell, and the writer
could have at least speculate just why he is so obsessed with his
disobedient Rose. But they are also dismissed. I could almost visualize
how the story and dialogues could be rewritten to be better. There is
nothing more frustrating than a potentially good story being told
incompetently.

On the other hand, the production design of this film is nothing short of
incredible. There are plenty of filmmakers can turn piles of money into
mediocre visual effects, but Cameron's films are always successful in
make-believes. Everything is painstakingly done to perfection. The
second half of the film is filled with extremely realistic visuals.
Throughout the entire film, this huge creation, the ship, and its reckage,
cannot be more convincing. It looks chillingly real. So is the scene in
which 1500 frozen bodies floating on the silent black sea. It is one of
those powerful moments that almost make your heart stop. There are plenty
of interesting fragments that border on great images, and they all contain
NO dialogue.

The sinking of Titanic on screen reminds me of "Braveheart". Both films
are able to explain some very complex processes. It is to the director's
credit that the audience are able to follow the steps of events that
happened and know how and why. The usage of computer models helps to
clarify the things happened after Titanic hit an iceberg. The audience
feel as if they were looking at the real footage of Titanic sinking, and
knowing clearly what is going on. It is ironic that the ship becomes more
interesting than any of the humans on board.

The music is very beautiful and haunting. The cinematography is
absolutely gorgeous and powerful, perhaps the year's best. Almost every
scene in this 3-hour-plus long movie would be good, if only there was no
words spoken. It is a paradox for me, always, about both Mr. Cameron and
Hollywood today in general -- how can so much talent, so much money and so
much blood, sweat and effort be spent into a project, without spending a
tiny fraction of that into writing a script with complex characters, deep
(not bloated) emotions, intelligent dialogues and realistic human
situation? Is it that hard? Is a good script more expensive than $200
million? Is the map to the human heart more difficult to draw than a
rebuilding of the biggest ship on earth? Is human minds so deep that even
those who dive into the sea where Titanic sleeps, cannot reach? Is it
impossible?

If it were a silent film, if there were no dialogue at all, "Titanic"
would probably get an A- from me, but as it is, it's B- to C+. I simply
cannot recommend it to those who do not read paperback romance novels.