I Just watched...Titanic at 7:22 PM

I just watched Titanic; the James Cameron masterpiece from 1997 that was the all time highest grossing movie… until James Cameron was like yeah ill make another movie. Avatar; which doubled Titanic’s gross on the miniscule budget of only 500 million dollars (300 million on making it and an estimated 200 in marketing.) Well like the rest of the world I’ve seen Titanic before, but not in several years so when Steph mentioned that it was her favorite movie I had to rewatch it so here we go!

First some background. Titanic was the crown jewel of the White Star Line shipping company; The unsinkable palace of the sea which sank when stinking an ice burg on its maiden voyage. Only 800 of the 2200 people survived when the ship sank and the wreck itself remained lost until September 1st 1985, when Robbery Ballard and his team rediscovered the wreck of the stern section in the fidget Atlantic sea. Since then it has been visited countless times and recovered artifacts from it tour the world in museum exhibitions.

When I was younger, I was obsessed with the myth of the Titanic. I had countless books about it and was glued to any found footage of it. I remember my family was over at dinner somewhere and Discovery Channel had this huge special on about discovering the Titanic and brand new footage and shit (looking back I believe it was when they tried and failed to bring up a large piece of the stern section) and  was so amazed that I was glued to the first half an hour. Then I had to leave and I was still at that age when you don’t realize that it will be on again or that you could look it up on the internet (in fact im pretty sure I didn’t even use the internet back then GASP) so I was heartbroken and kicked and screamed my way out the door.

But that fascination followed me throughout my childhood, adolescence and now into adulthood. I have read countless articles, seen countless tv shows about lost ships and under sea wrecks and followed the adventures of Robert Ballard as he trotted through the sees discovering lost ships and making history cool again.

Back the movie; SO this movie cost 200 million dollars to make which back in 1997 money was insane! I watched a bunch of the special features and its amazing they had full scale sets, large scale miniatures, cgi sets (actually Titanic was the first movie to incorporate cgi water a; little fun fact) and huge underwater sets. They also visited the wreck two miles down at the bottom of the ocean, which is on my bucket list of things to do in my life. They intercut all these different set seamlessly and there are few mistakes I was able to find. Leo how young you look, and how well even back there is your acting skills.  

This movie like James Cameron’s next big film is insanely long. Three hours long. I think when this shipped on VHS it was on two and there was that awkward pause at the end of an hour and forty minutes when it said to insert the other tape. Plus the extended edition is even longer! With something like another 40 minutes of b roll/sub plots etcetera, which equals a long ass movie so you need make space in your schedule or even an entire afternoon to watch this water epic.

The final word is the same as it is back when it came out. Titanic is a great movie that pushed the limits of film making and introduced several movie-making techniques that are now mainstay. This was the Cleopatra, Ben Hur or Avatar of the 90s and its defiantly worth the time to sit down and enjoy it if you have never seen it or just haven’t seen it in a couple years. OR just wait a year or so when it is digitally re released in 3D! I would guff at the idea as basically every movie that has gone through the post 3D method has looked like Clash of the Titans crap, but James Cameron is the king of 3D and if anyone can make it turn out decent in the post 3D conversion process, he’s the one.

Theater: Yes

Download: Yes

Stream: Yes

Buy: Yes

Pass: No

9/10