Re-watched Titanic after 20 years. Prior to watching, I thought this film was too long, cheesy, overrated etc. ... well...

Titanic 3D 5/5

*Spoiler Alert as I assume everyone has watched this film\*

This film has completely blown me away again. The last time I watched it was 20 years ago and it has aged so well. No romantic film comes close from this generation.

Story & CharactersThe story is beautiful and separated into two halves. The first is a beautiful, playful, natural gravitation of two lost souls. One forever lost in the world, the other trapped. The second half is a tragedy of proportions I cannot even begin to try and illustrate.

There is a lot about Rose I missed during my first watch or didn't quite take in. For example, the fact that she is so emotionally scarred and repressed to the extent she would even think about suicide. Similarly Jack wasn't just any average free spirited soul. He really was somebody who could see into people. Consistently throughout the entire film he has this intangible charisma, charm and intuition which you're just born with.

At the end, we're left with Jack who saved Roses soul. Then Rose, who against all odds, saves Jacks life. She then chooses to spend time with Jack over being safe. And finally Jack saves Rose to complete the cycle, binding her to a promise she keeps until the end.

The end which we all know by now is also really powerful. When Rose finds out Jack isn't answering her (when she's on the door), I can see in her eyes she gives up. She is cold, she is hypothermic, she wants to sleep, she wants the hell to end, she doesn't want to let go of Jack's hand. But then she realises the promise she made to him. She realises the only thing she has left at that moment in time (after abandoning the cage which is her family and fiancee) is her promise to Jack. It's not her will to live which drives her onwards, it's the promise she made to Jack and the love they shared. With that will, she managed to fight and blow the whistle.

Also little things. Rose is a very mistrusting, almost paranoid girl at the start of the film. She is moody, she doesn't like being out of her comfort zone. However as the film progresses, she is spontaneous, able to react quickly, she has faith in anything Jack tells her to do and vice versa. This is very well illustrated and put together during the action scenes where decision and movement after movement is based on trust.

Also the scene where they make love really stayed with me. Despite Jack being the powerful spontaneous bundle of energy mentally and physically throughout the entire film, able to hold his own at a first class dining table battle of wits or fight someone at a game of poker, it's clear he is the vulnerable one after they have sex. She lays him on her chest. Its powerful; it illustrates that Jack is also lost in the world and was looking for a place to belong.. and he found it. He was for the first moment in the film, exposed.. weak.. vulnerable. Only with Rose. This is the same guy who is later handcuffed on the bottom deck of a sinking ship and never once gives up; but in this tender moment, he is vulnerable.

The masterful storytelling is further expanded by how Cameron presents us with TWO goodbyes. There are two instances where we feel it's the end and time for them to part. The first is when Jack begs her to get on the boat. Her decision consequentially is stupid, but its the decision we all wanted her to make because somehow, we understand how stupid their love is.

This is all hit home by the fact that it happens over the course of days. It's the classic love at first sight done properly.

This hit home to me at the scene where Rose and Jack at the top end of the ship and its about to sink. Everyone is worrying for their lives, a sense of panic. And what does Rose say to Jack? 'This is where we first met'. It brings a tear to my eye knowing that she lived a lifetime but her life only truly started when she met Jack that day. Its sad. She knows deep down the time they spent is short, but she wants it to mean much more because it does mean so much more. Its normally a phrase used by people married for years.. but here she uses it, with a man shes known for days.

We have the scene when Rose as an old woman mentions Jack saved her in every possible way. He saved her mental health, he saved her spiritual health, he saved her socially and he saves her life on countless occasions too. He met a suicidal, depressed, trapped, weak woman and within days she was transformed into a beacon of light, able to fight the social/caste system in place, fiery, physically and mentally stronger than most other people.

Also the last scene is so poetic. Jack gives Rose at the dinner party a piece of paper 'meet me at the clock'. And this is exactly what happens. She mets Jack at the clock in the afterlife. In this scene, the time on the clock is when the Titanic sank. All passengers regardless of class are together, signifying in death what truly matters isn't what you have in your pocket (and she removes from her pocket the heart of the ocean).

All of the characters, from the villains to Jack to Rose to the Captain to the engineer of the ship feel real, developed and three dimensional.

TechnicalsThe cinematography is first class and still hasn't aged. The soundtrack is one of the most iconic of all time. I watched this film as a child but the sound of the background music brought me straight back to watching Titanic. I can't think of another film from that century which has that effect.

3D wise, its great. It enhances the film but it's obviously a film which can easily be watched without it. Its' masterfully done and an example that ANY film can benefit from some 3D. However, I'd probably edge towards a 2D version IF it has that phenomenal IMAX aspect ratio which the 3D version features.

It's one of the only films with an extremely long runtime warrants it. It respects the audiences time. It just has a beautifully paced story to tell.

I can pretty much watch ANY scene from Titanic and write a paragraph on it. Thats kind of insane and its not something I can say about nearly any other film.

ConclusionIt's very rare that a film has an emotional impact on me. I didn't cry this time. I could probably make myself cry now if I wanted to, but it's time for bed. I knew what was going to happen and I'd watched a few scenes on youtube earlier which softened the blow. However now sits in a feeling of depression, of emptiness. Not many, or really any films do that to me. Not many things in life ever evoke emotions like this for me; but Titanic is one of the only forms of media which has. You don't want the first half of the film to end. You want Jack and Rose to go on a thousand dates, to spend more time together, have more magical memories and grow.

The best way I can describe a film like this is it makes you want to be a better person. It makes you want to have the magic which Jack and Rose had. I forgot how good this film is.

Before watching this, I was almost certain this film was overrated, sucked and was too long. Didn't think it today. Of course, its a Hollywood film, and people write it off as a culmination of everything Hollywod but I still think its far far more than that. I haven't even touched on the histroical accuracy of the film, the entire ship sinking plot and how it was masterfully addressed, and the social class representation.

Guess I'm a Titanic fanboy.

5/5

Submitted June 28, 2020 at 06:38PM by gintokigriffiths https://ift.tt/31jTDPs