TITANIC |
| CREDITS: Director: James Cameron Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane,
David Warner, Kathy Burke, Bill Paxton & Gloria Swanson USA 1997 (12) INTRODUCTION: I finally got a chance to see this little-known movie as part of the Derby Metro's 'All At Sea' weekend, packaged between "Das Boot" and "Battleship Potemkin". It never really stood a chance of gaining much recognition, and indeed the turnout was poor, even for an art house audience, it was almost as if the picture had been out months and absolutely everyone had already seen it. The last thing you would expect from cult action director James Cameron would be a second-rate frock flick, but following on from his string of commercial failures ("The Terminator", "Aliens", "Total Recall" & "True Lies") that is exactly what he has been reduced to doing. SYNOPSIS: A deranged Billy Zane pursues a young couple around a boat in this tightly scripted thriller, oh no, wait a minute, that was "Deep Calm". This film follows the allegedly true story of the maiden voyage of the 'Titanic' and you would expect nothing could go wrong on an 'unsinkable' ship with 'Captain Birdseye' (the original, not that new one) at the helm, but without spoiling the ending for you, suffice to say that things do not run smoothly. REVIEW: What we have here is a minor entry into the disaster canon that at time seems little more than a follow up to "The Abyss" Cameron's only success to date. Filmed on a shoestring budget, Cameron is forced to eschew the normal exciting effects and sumptuous visuals that have dogged this genre and instead rely solely on a thrilling script and convincing performances to achieve his ends. The film concentrates so heavily on the star-crossed lovers that the casting becomes a make-or-break decision. Virtual unknown DiCaprio takes on the role of Jack but it is hard to imagine anyone who has gone through puberty falling for his all too boyish charms and the lovely 'Porky' Winslet continues her string of bodice rippers, leaving fans to wonder if she will ever find her breakthrough role. Zane, Warner, Burke, Paxton and Swanson provide the minimal amount of support the script allows them. Indeed my biggest complaint would be that the film was not long enough and we don't really get time to know any of the other characters , who at times seem little more the set decoration, leading to a distinct lack of interest as we watch them getting killed off. It is a sad state of affairs but the truth is that we don't know these people so why should we give a damn whether they live or die. Still, Cameron has a habit of releasing special editions of his films ("Aliens", "The Abyss", "T2") so is it too much to hope that he has a longer version waiting in the wings to redress this balance? While this film will certainly not make Cameron 'King of the World' it should have a shot at a couple of the lesser Oscars, Best Makeup, Best Score (despite the atrocious theme tune, don't give up your day job Ms Dion) and surely a Best Supporting Actress for Gloria Swanson. I doubt that this extraordinarily average movie will reach your local cinema screen, being up against such great productions as 'Live Flesh', 'Bent' and 'Sick' but if it does and you've got nothing better to do give it a shot, at least so it has a chance of breaking even. One for the none-too-fussy members of the predominantly female, 'Frock Flick' fraternity. Mutt's Rating: *** |