Film Review: Emotionally Galvanizing ‘Titanic 3D’ Transcends Unnecessary Conversion

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CHICAGO – It takes more than expensive effects, super-sized egos and exhaustive marketing campaigns to seduce the world. For all of its visual splendor, James Cameron’s “Avatar” has already evaporated from most moviegoers’ memories. Its derivative romance and preachy messages were stretched so thin that they failed to achieve any resonant impact.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 4.5/5.0
Rating: 4.5/5.0

Cameron’s previous box office phenomenon, 1997’s “Titanic,” may be every bit as derivative, but it succeeds in the most crucial areas where “Avatar” fell distressingly short. Perhaps Cameron merely lucked out by casting Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, two actors who have proven to be among the most audacious and gifted of their generation. Perhaps a fact-based human story will always be more relatable than the plight of motion-capture creatures from a metaphorical planet of our discontent.

StarRead Matt Fagerholm’s full review of “Titanic 3D” in our reviews section.

Yet upon viewing the film 15 years later, it’s clear that Cameron reached his peak both technically and artistically in the second half of this flawed yet often glorious picture. I was 12 when I first saw “Titanic” on video with my sister and parents. I’ll never forget peeking through my fingers during the infamous drawing scene and then being stunned into silence by the terrible grandeur of the ship’s slow descent toward its watery grave. Like the epic directors of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Cameron is as interested in the characters occupying the corners of the screen as he is with the star-crossed lovers at its center. There is one scene that has routinely moved me to tears every subsequent time I’ve seen “Titanic,” and it has nothing to do with the forbidden affair between wealthy but disillusioned Rose (Winslet) and penniless but idealistic Jack (DiCaprio). It takes place as chaos is engulfing the ship during its final hour, and a group of dedicated violinists decide to perform their last song together. As the sweetly mournful tones of their music drifts through the frigid air, Cameron cuts below deck to the trapped passengers making the most of their final moments together. An elderly couple embraces each other as water begins surging through the walls. A mother reads her children what she knows will be their final bedtime story. This unforgettable montage is the reason why “My Heart Will Go On” will never be the song that immediately comes to mind when I think of “Titanic.” It’s “Nearer, My God, To Thee.” It fit perfectly well in 1936’s classic disaster epic, “San Francisco,” and it works equally well here.

‘Titanic 3D’ stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Bernard Hill, David Warner, Victor Garber, Bill Paxton and Gloria Stuart. It was written and directed by James Cameron. It was released April 4th in local theaters. It is rated PG-13.

StarContinue reading for Matt Fagerholm’s full “Titanic 3D” review.

Kate Winslet stars in James Cameron’s Titanic.
Kate Winslet stars in James Cameron’s Titanic.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

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