Titanic (1997) Review: The Epic That Earns Its Tears

Is Titanic worth watching?

Yes. Titanic is a towering piece of popular filmmaking, a sincere, lavish romance that gives way to one of the most harrowing disaster sequences ever put on screen. James Cameron combines technical ambition with an unembarrassed commitment to melodrama, and Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio give the love story real spark. The reservations are its sometimes clunky dialogue and a cartoonish villain, but the film’s sweep and emotional force overwhelm them.

What is Titanic about?

Titanic opens in the present day, as a treasure hunter searching the wreck of the RMS Titanic discovers a drawing that leads him to an elderly survivor, Rose, who agrees to tell her story. Her account takes us back to April 1912 and the ship’s maiden voyage from Southampton.

The young Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) is a wealthy, suffocated passenger engaged to the arrogant heir Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a penniless artist who won his ticket in a card game. They meet, fall in love across the rigid class lines of the ship, and are still caught up in that romance when the liner strikes an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Cameron wrote and directed the film, which is American, in English, rated PG-13, and runs 194 minutes. It won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Cameron builds a ship, then breaks it

The film’s technical achievement remains astonishing. Cameron recreates the Titanic in loving detail, from the grand staircase and first-class dining room to the cramped third-class quarters, and the ship feels like a real, vast, functioning place. That sense of reality is crucial, because the second half of the film shows it all being destroyed.

The sinking sequence, which unfolds over roughly an hour, is a masterpiece of disaster filmmaking. Cameron conveys the scale of the catastrophe, the chaos, the injustice of the class divisions determining who reached the lifeboats, and the small, heartbreaking moments of individual courage and fear. Practical sets, models and digital effects are combined so seamlessly that the result still holds up remarkably well. James Horner’s score, with its Celtic motifs, adds enormously to the emotional impact.

Winslet and DiCaprio make old-fashioned romance work

The love story is simple, even familiar: a rich girl, a poor boy and a fiancé who stands in their way. But Winslet and DiCaprio give it conviction. Winslet is superb as Rose, a young woman whose rebellion against her mother and fiancé feels urgent and personal, and she carries the film’s emotional arc with intelligence and passion. DiCaprio is charming and boyish as Jack, a free spirit whose confidence is infectious.

Their chemistry makes the film’s big romantic moments, like the famous scene at the ship’s bow, genuinely swoony rather than silly. Kathy Bates adds wit as the outspoken Molly Brown, and Gloria Stuart gives the elderly Rose a moving grace.

Where the melodrama shows its seams

Titanic’s weaknesses are evident. The dialogue can be clumsy and on the nose, the class politics are painted in broad strokes, and Billy Zane’s Cal is a moustache-twirling villain with little nuance. The present-day framing story, involving the treasure hunters, is less engaging than the historical drama. At over three hours, the first half can feel leisurely before the iceberg arrives. These are real flaws, but the film’s sincerity and craftsmanship carry it through.

Who should watch Titanic?

This is for anyone who loves grand, sweeping romance and epic historical spectacle, and for viewers who have only ever seen clips of its most famous moments. It is rated PG-13, with the disaster sequence containing intense peril and mass death, plus brief nudity. It is a big commitment at over three hours, so plan an evening and ideally a large screen.

If it sweeps you away, try these next:

• Casablanca, the classic Hollywood romance set against a backdrop of world-changing events.
• Past Lives, a far quieter, modern story about a love shaped by time and circumstance.

The verdict

Titanic is a colossal, heartfelt and technically dazzling epic, a blockbuster that treats its romance and its tragedy with equal seriousness. Its dialogue and villain are broad, but Winslet, DiCaprio and Cameron’s staggering recreation of the sinking make it one of the defining films of the 1990s.

Rating: 4.5/5