James Cameron’s Titanic quickly became the most expensive movie, costing over 200 million Dollars. Who’s going to pay to see a 194 minute-historical romance with a known ending and no stars?
It’s a love story. Leonardo Di Caprio plays a poor boy who wins a ticket aboard the Titanic in a game of poker. Kate Winslet plays an unhappy member of a rich family who is bored by social rules. She wants to commit suicide. Fortunately for her, she meets Di Caprio and then begins a romance as grand as the Titanic itself. But there’s Billy Zane, Winslet’s cold family member, and Winslet’s mother, extremely afraid of losing her social status. The two main characters, Di Caprio and Winslet, are fascinating. They are both deeply human.
The special effects are amazing, and they help the story and its characters.
The tragic sinking, when it comes, is brutal and frightening. It’s also very well constructed. And how brutal! The many people who die when the Titanic sinks look real.