My thoughts on: Titanic 3D

Before we get into the big details of the film I'd just like to clear up that I had indeed seen the film before watching it in 3D.

This is a tricky one to really talk about, as you've got two aspects to consider this time. The first being the actual film and the second is how different it is with the 3D treatment and whether it's worth seeing because of it. What I'm gonna do is basically split those two up and discuss them separately.



The original film

Well I'm sure most people reading this will have at some point seen this film (and some of you may even believe the Titanic is a fictional event, but lets not get into that) but I'd still like to talk about some of this film here.

Well we need to get a sense of the scale of this film to really appreciate it. At the time of production (1997) it was the most expensive film ever made (probably something to do with pretty much rebuilding the Titanic) and it really shows. The grace and elegance of the liner are absolutely astounding to see, such effort was put into the furnishing of the ship that you really couldn't imagine anything more grand. Of course this is how the ship actually was and recreating it to such an accurate degree must have been a little difficult but just adds to the overall believability of the environment.

the beautifully recreated Titanic

It is of course well known for being one of the most famous love stories in the world. You have the rich girl who can have whatever she wants in life except her freedom due to the claustrophobia of her parents forcing her to marry into money. Then you have the poor little lad living his life day by day longing for better, not realising he has exactly what the people on the other side of the fence want. Jack and Rose soon fall into each others arms through attraction and mutual respect for each others rebellion against society at the time.

Dicaprio and Winslet really do act their socks off here, in my opinion the best either of them ever do and it seems almost criminal to look back now and see Leo didn't even get an Oscar nomination for his efforts. I can hardly call them the shining stars mind you, as every single actor in the film really pulls their weight to create such amazing and memorable characters you can't distinguish the lead characters as good beyond the others. It feels as though everyone knows this film is a big deal and really are throwing all they've got at it

The film is fantastically broken into two very distinct pieces in such a way I don't think I've seen before. It is quite possible that you could literally stop the film halfway through and separate it into two different films. You have the story of the growing love between the two characters (summed up by the deep oranges and reds that engulf this first half) and then you have the dramatic second half (stylised with dark blues and blacks). This really shows the effort put into the film, that it has such a massive subplot (in the sinking) that it could create a film on its own. I can actually imagine someone wishing for action films coming in just as the ship hits the iceberg and being perfectly content with the story he gets for his money, they don't skip over the sinking (it earns about an hour or so of screen time) and the character development takes a backseat as something more important rears its head.

The deep oranges of the first half of the film

The problem you have with films such as this with a pre-determined disaster is that the 'dramatic' end to the blockbuster film is known before you enter the cinema. If you know your history it's almost pre-determined that a character of Rose's class in society would of course survive the sinking while Jack must be destined to die aboard the liner. This means watching it for the first time you get a sense of an 'ephemeral' love (literally 'can only last one day). I think Cameron (the director of Titanic as well as Avatar) was intelligent enough to realise this pitfall of such a story (unfortunately the recent ITV Titanic  drama did not) and as such subverts peoples preconceptions with the fantastic moment of Rose jumping out of the lifeboat to return to her true love. It is at this point the story shatters in peoples mind, they now have no idea whats gonna happen and the pace really picks up. Will Jack survive riding on Rose's position, or will Rose willingly sacrifice herself just to stay with Jack? Whatever it is all we know is "You jump I jump". Cameron brilliantly changes the course yet again through the story separating the lovers who the audience have now become certain will end up together forever, be it in life or death. And that people, is how you do love.

The perfect example of touching love. Also highlights the
change to the darker colours beautifully

Seeing it in the cinema

The first thing to talk about is the 3D. Now this isn't your rush job for cashing in on a franchise, it was reported it took longer to convert the film into 3D than it took to originally make it, just another sense of how bloomin' big this whole thing is. If you're expecting real gimmicky 3D with stuff coming out at you you're gonna be thoroughly disappointed, Cameron made a real elegant film in Titanic and that is the best way to describe the 3D in the film, 'elegant'. It adds real depth to the picture, and in this film adding depth really accentuates just how bloody massive the whole enterprise was. You get to feel yourself looking down the corridors stretching into the distance of the gargantuan ship. You get to feel yourself looking out at the water dotted with survivors dying by the second. You get a feel of the biggest manmade object sinking right in front of your very eyes (the sinking bits in 3D are just astounding). 3D was absolutely the right move for Titanic, as it needs the recognition of scale you can finally appreciate. I was also a little concerned the CGI might not hold up after so many years, but it looks as good as anything released today (it may have cost back in '97, but it sure was worth it after seeing it 15 years later).

If you can see any signs of CGI you're better than me!

Also its a real interesting experience watching such a film in the cinema, nowadays with so many distractions (phones, computers etc) it's rate we give things such as a film our full attention. I have to say this is the first time Ive watched this film without losing focus and watching it in the background and I was amazed at just how much more it drew me in and connected me with the whole story once it had my undivided interest.

The film comes in at over 3 hours long and I was especially excited about seeing the film on the big screen with or without 3D and it really was worth it, but the problem with a film of such length is that people may begin to suffer after such a long time. In my opinion you get too lost in the story once the sinking begins to worry about it, but I could empathise with others having to walk out for the loo or something. I do think that the cinema should have looked into an intermission in the story to give people a chance to get comfy again for the next hour or so (although I've no idea where to put it if I'm honest), I think its worth seeing it at the cinema but if you enjoy stopping the film too much for quick breaks remember a cinema doesn't have a pause button.

One last thing before I go; as a lot of you may have seen floating around, a while ago there was a joke going round that Rose promises to never let go of Jack, then does. I didn't realise until watching the film again, but it is in fact the promise to Jack to live on that she will never let go of, not his body. I find this a real shame that the gorgeous writing of "never letting go" of your last words to the man you uncontrollably love have been overlooked and misunderstood by so many. Ah well.

My worst bit - I would say the length, but that is entirely necessary to create such a grand scale to the film, so I'm gonna have to say there is not one thing I don't like about the film (if you can think of one feel free to post in the comments, I'd love to see what you all thought)

My Best bit - Watching the stern of the enormous machine enter into the cold depths of the sea in 3D. One of the best bits of cinema Ive ever seen.

My Rating- 10/10 > The pinnacle of many peoples acting career, the pinnacle of story telling, the pinnacle of adaptation, the pinnacle of cinema.