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Movie Evaluation: Titanic
Introduction
Interrupted forever in its maiden voyage the titanic sits still in the ocean floor. We see
it in the underwater shots of “Titanic”, encrusted with rust of decades as a camera wind its
way inside, giving us a glimpse of staterooms made for millionaires now inherited by fish and
crustaceans. That is the final resting place of the otherwise “unsinkable” ship it was claimed
until that claim was made null by an iceberg.
The ship calls from its final resting place for its story to be heard, she was the largest
moving work of man ever by the time. In the initial shots of the movie, Titanic can be seen
sweeping majestically from bow to stern, almost 900 feet long.
James Cameron’s 1997, $200 million, 194-minute movie about the disastrous
voyage, is brilliantly created, perfectly crafted, first rate acted and awe inspiring. The story
maintains the tradition for such films. We know that certain things must occur at the
beginning of the movie, The Titanic will sink and that there must be a story involving
humans, for the Titanic it is a tragic romance.
These elements are well encrusted in this movie. They are awesomely balanced that
nothing seems out of proportion and every plot flows well in the storyline as it unfolds.
Intellectually you know that you are not looking at a real ship. The ship was made out of
models and computer-generated images, the illusion created is compelling. The special
effects get the job done and not unnecessarily call attention to themselves.
Plot
The story is retold 84 years later after the sinking of the Titanic, Rose Dewitt Bukater
(Kate Winslet) who is 100 years at the time of production narrates the romantic tragedy to her
granddaughter Lizzy Calvert and crew of an exploration ship the Keldysh. She tells of her
experience on the period set from April 10 1912 on an ocean liner called the Titanic
(Pereyra).
The screenplay is of the 17-year-old Rose DeWitt who is forced by her own destitute
mother to marry a rich arrogant man named Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane). She hates this
prospect; distraught she tries to commit suicide by trying to throw herself aboard. She is
saved by Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a kind, poor artist who had won a trip on the
HMS Titanic.
Seen with Jack by Caledon Rose informs Caledon that she was peeking over the
edges when Jack saved her from falling as she had slipped. Caledon is unfazed but Rose
insists that Jack be acknowledged for that. He offers Jack some pocket change to which Rose
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asks Cal whether her life meant so little to him. He offers Jack an invite to dine with them the
following night in the first-class section of the ship as a form of recognition for saving Rose.
The romance unwinds in a way that unassumingly flaunts the ship. As Jack Joins
Cals’s party in the first-class dining room there are ornate decorations and luxuries that leave
Jack in awe. They later on fleeing from Caledon’s manservant, first find themselves in the
engine room of the ship. Later on, they are at an Irish dance in the crowded third-class section
of the ship. By now Jack and Rose have developed a friendship.
Caledon’s Butler, Spicer Lovejoy (David Warner) had sneaked on Rose and Jack
when they had attended a party in the third-class section of the ship and notified Cal. The
following morning during breakfast Caledon shows a propensity for violence which makes
Rose more anxious about her forthcoming marriage (Cameron et al). Her mother’s interest is
only to resolve the Dewitt Bukater’s financial woes by marrying Rose off to Caledon.
Jack tries to warn Rose of what she might be putting herself into if she agrees to
marry Caledon. Initially Rose snubs Jack’s claims, but later on she becomes aware that she
prefers Jack over Cal. After sunset Rose sneaks Jack in her stateroom where she shows Jack
her engagement present: The Heart of the Ocean. Rose asks Jack to draw a nude sketch of her
wearing The Heart of the Ocean which is an ornate necklace with a blue diamond.
In the smoking-room Cal’s butler informs him that Rose had not been seen by any of
the steward that night. Cal orders the him to look for her. As Rose knows that Cal is going to
enquire about her whereabouts, she and Jack evades Cal’s butler the climax of the film occurs
when Rose and Jack consummate their love by making love in a car that is in the cargo hold.
Later on, they go to the ship’s forwards deck and while there, the Titanic’s lookout spots an
iceberg that is directly in the ships path.
Jack and Rose’s exploration are interrupted by cut scenes from the command deck.
The captain (Bernard Hill) converses with managing director Ismay (Jonathan Hyde) of
White Star Line, the shipping company owning the Titanic and the ship designer Andrews
(Victor Garber). Ismay desires for the Titanic to break the trans-Atlantic speed record.
Though he is warned that there may be icebergs in the risky Northern crossing. Ismay,
contemptuous of the warning is only concerned of the glory breaking the speed record will
bring to White Star Line and Titanic.
Titanic can break the record with ease but it’s too huge to easily maneuver at high
speed. After spotting the iceberg orders are given to steer the ship hard to the left and run the
engines full astern. Since the ship is at full speed and when the iceberg was spotted it was too
close, the also the ship turned very slowly and the left side scrapes the iceberg (Peng 9). This
causes considerable damage to the impermeable compartments and the ship starts to take in
water. Jack and Rose are witness to the collision and overhear the officers and designer
deliberate the gravity of the situation.
The nude drawing of Rose is discovered by Cal together with a mocking note made
by Rose. When Jack and Rose try to inform Cal of the collision, he plots with his butler to
slip a necklace in Jack’s pocket (Rapoport 1373). He then accuses Jack of theft and has him
arrested and taken to an office where he is handcuffed to a pipe.
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RMS Titanic starts sinking and desperate to rescue Jack. Rose flees her mother and
Cal who had boarded a life boat and she is able to save him. They return to the life boat deck
and Jack and Cal convince her to board a life boat. As the boats is lowered the thought of
leaving Jack on board alone makes Rose to jump back on board. Jack is angry with Rose and
he confronts her but his anger soon turns to tenderness as she kisses him. Cal on seeing this
takes his butlers gun and chases them in the flooding first class saloon shooting at them.
Jack and Rose find themselves in the decks below after escaping Cal. A locked gate
traps them but Jack is able to emancipate them. They manage to return to the boat and to their
dismay all the life boats have already left and people are falling to their death as the stern
faces skywards (Paine 327). Jack and Rose are able to reach the stern where they met for the
first time. They take positions on the stern after a struggle to climb over the rail finally the
ship breaks in half. Jack and Rose finally let go of the stern as the Titanic finally sinks.
Jack and Rose swim frantically and finally resurface to find themselves between a
massive throng of crew and passengers. In moments they find a wooden paneling where Jack
helps Rose on top. There is no room left for Jack and he hangs on the edge of the wooden
panel his body in the freezing Atlantic waters. Jack dies of hypothermia while Rose is finally
rescued when some crewmen and the fifth officer return to find survivors. The survivors are
taken to New York aboard the RMS Carpathia. Later on, Rose becomes aware that Caledon
killed himself after losing all his wealth in the financial crash of 1929.
Conclusion
Titanic has all the qualities for a film to be considered a great movie. A lengthy movie
in movie standards at 194 minutes but it is worth your time. It is a superior movie in the areas
of acting, scenery, and story line. It is considered one of the best romantic dramas out there.
The main antagonists Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, act so passionately towards each
other it is next to impossible to believe that they are not real lovers.
The beautiful scenery conveys the emotion you are meant to perceive at each scene.
The films for example start off underwater giving as a scene of the degenerating ship covered
in rust and mold here you can see all the items that got left behind. It is an actual footage
taken of the actual sunken ship. This puts the viewer mindset in what a disaster this really
was.
Every minute of the film is entertaining. Without the qualities of great acting, and a
superb story line a film is bound to fail. Not only does Titanic have these qualities, it exceeds
expectations.
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Works Cited
Cameron, James, James Horner, and Jon Landau. Titanic. Twentieth Century Fox Home

Entertainment, 1997.

Paine, Lincoln. "Book Review: Titanic: A Night Remembered." (2005): 327-329.

Peng, Y. I. N. "Reproduction of movie language characteristics in translation A

descriptive study on the translation on the basis of Waterloo Bridge and

Titanic." Journal of Changchun University 9 (2008).

Pereyra, Anthony. “Titanic”. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/plotsummary. Accessed

16 Dec 2021

Rapoport, Nancy B. "Enron, Titanic, and the perfect storm." Fordham L. Rev. 71 (2002):

1373.