Obviously I am talking that 1997 version of the movie…
Now I had insomnia the other night so at some wee hour of the morning I put the movie on and frankly I enjoyed it, I have always enjoyed the movie, and I just don’t get why people hate it so much?
I have tried to think of some reasons, and I can only come up with the following…
Leonardo DiCaprio - I know some people loathe him (in some sort of anti harping teen-fangirl way). And frankly while i cannot stand him, he actually worked i this movie I thought.
2 . It beat “L.A. Confidental” at the Oscars. While I liked “L.A. Confidential” better, I can definately see why Titanic beat it at the Oscars, “Titanic” was a much more grander, epic movie which the Academy loves.
Its success. Frankly this one rings the most hollow for me, possibly cause I don’t get the entire, if they succeed-cut 'em down mentaility.
To much sucky romance, not enough historical stuff. THis one I will agree with. As a history nerd, I wanted to see more of the famous stuff that happened aboard the Titanic, not just the cameo apperances by the people (the Strauses, Astors, Molly Brown etc). But then again the movie was from the veiw point of one person (Rose) not an entire network of interpersonal stories from the Titanic. Anyhoo, I still have “A Night To Remember” for all the interpersonal connection stories.
So anyway, I just don’t get the hatred for this movie. I don’t deny it had its flaws, but I really did enjoy it ALOT all the same.
How could you forget a certain overly dramatic, chest-thumping singer – who also happens to be the child of Satan – responsible for assaulting us with that irritatingly ubiquitous theme song?
I thought Leo and what’s-her-face, the nekkid chick, were both horrible, horrible actors. Just about every scene included some line that was delivered so badly I had to roll my eyes. Add to that a script that included just about every cliche in the book (they should have given the evil fiancee a thin moustache to twirl as he planned his dastardly deeds) and a cast of one-dimensional supporting characters, and you have my answer.
Couldn’t care less about how popular it was, personally.
I don’t mind Leo. I actually think he’s a pretty good actor.
I will admit to disliking the movie for its success, but that’s a cause of my dislike for it, not an effect. I saw it before it was huge.
Remember, Titanic didn’t blow up at the box-office like Spider-Man or The Smashing of the Christ. It drug along like a diesel engine for something like 29 weeks.
Overall I just thought it was a bad movie. Bad acting, bad script, bad visuals, too long…etc.
Saint Sparky - This was the rare movie that would’ve worked better as a mindless special-effects extravaganza. The realism of the ship is extraordinary, and the movie, on the whole, is packed with gorgeous visuals. And James Cameron can think of nothing better to do with it than a ridiculous love triange filled with enough ham-handed moments to fill half a season of South Park. IMHO, if he just described the trip from a number of viewpoints and not created any cardboard characters, it would’ve been much more entertaining.
It worked as a disaster movie. It worked as a set piece showcase. I really, really could’ve done without the stupid love story and the cardboard characters (rumor has it that this actually wrecked Billy Zane’s career). And I agree with everyone who says that the Best Picture award was seriously undeserved.
Celine Dion? Eh, I don’t got nuthin’ against her. Radio station owners have hideous taste. Just something you gotta get used to.
Although I’ve seen Leo do good acting, the ret of this I agree with. The plot was so damned blah.
And this is coming from the man who heartily enjoys all the Star Wars flicks, Hulk, Punisher, etc: very one of those had a great premise, and I liked the acting and story.
Come to think of it, Titanic had a good premise, too. But the execution, in terms of having such a cliche story, was so awful. There were only two characters I cared about: “Unsinkable” Molly Brown and the ship’s engineer/designer, simply because he looked cool in that period outfit.
The decision to make the ex an unbeleivably bad man was ridiculous and idiotic. He plays like snidely whiplash.
I also note there eemed to be a lot of women and children who survived the flick; historically, I think that actually more men did, because they were more likely to be awake and get to the lifeboats.
Why which people hate it so much? Obviously a lot of people liked it very much, or it wouldn’t have been so successful and popular. But you can’t expect everyone to like any particular movie. There will always be some people who dislike it, or find it merely so-so. There are movies far better than Titanic that are hated by some.
However, when a movie is as successful and popular as Titanic, many of the people who thought the movie was just mediocre are going to feel more disappointed than they would at another medicore flick. “You mean to tell me this is the highest grossing movie of all time? This won Best Picture? I mean, it wasn’t all that bad, but it was nowhere near that good!” And the real haters are likely to be more vocal in expressing their opinions about a movie that did well than one that failed to make much impact on the public.
It’s the success. If the movie had “only” made $200 million in the US and $400 million worldwide, it would’ve come and gone from the public consciousness like “Twister”. But it did three times those numbers, and that’s what gets in a lot of peoples craw - they find a passable (at best) movie being blown way out of proportion and it bothers them.
Well, it was the number 1 movie for 15 straight weeks, from December 19th to April 1st. It’s biggest week was not the opening, but five weeks into the release when it grossed $36,000,000… four weeks after that, in week nine it grossed $33,000,000.
While Titanic didn’t blow out the gate like Spider Man did, obviously Spider Man couldn’t retain the sort of interest that Titanic had - it was played out by week five.
Because much of the movie audience these days is teenage boys. Titanic was pitched at adults (it was a throwback to classic films of the 60s or before) and teenage girls.
Teenage boys like action, adventure, and mayhem, so disliked the fact there was very little of it (they liked the guy falling into the propeller, though). Titanic bothered with nonessentials like character development and, of course, it had yucky romance scenes. So obviously it had to be trashed. Can’t have that sort of thing in our films. :eek:
There’s also the Internet factor: discussions of movies on the Internet always boils down to “It’s great!” or “It sucked!” Since Titanic was basically an good, entertaining movie, but not a great one, people on the Internet was mentally unequipped to deal with it. They couldn’t call it “great,” so, logically, they had to say it sucked.
I liked Titanic; it was a very good movie. Admittedly it was a melodrama, but it was a well-made one. My favorite movie of all time is Casablanca and that’s essentially a well-made melodrama as well.
And I’ll give Cameron credit for the fact that when he spends a fortune making a movie it all ends up on the screen.
Actually, this part seems to be accurate: according to these statistics 74% of the adult female passengers survived, compared to 20% of the men.
And RealityChuck, I have to disagree with you re: character development. Normally, I’m all for character development, and I tend to prefer films that emphasize the characters over action films–my favorite kind of movies are usually more character portraits than they are plot-driven.
But Titanic seemed remarkably light on character development–Billy Zane’s character was completely one (not even two!) dimensional–the stereotypically evil rich guy–and the same with Leo’s character (the stereotypically romantic working-class guy). They and all the other characters didn’t change much over the film, even when faced with the challenge of the sinking ship.
The lack of character development, IMO, was the biggest drawback of the film.
Surprisingly enough the character I dislike the most was Rose. IMHO, she was a selfish, self-centered whiner.
Sure, you may not get along with your mom, but to leave her thinking you died is uncalled for. Why couldn’t she just stand up to her face to face, and say, “Mom, I’m outta here.”
Is that not two dimensions, (1) evil and (2) rich?
I consider Titanic a decent, but flawed movie made with exceptional technical craft, but nowehere near as good as what the box office take would suggest. I think it was all those 13-year-old girls who saw it 15 times.
I loved the movie when it came out. For one thing, I’m a guy who tends to like “chick” flicks. I’d rather watch witty banter and well crafted romance than explosions any day of the week. Secondly, I was a Titanic nut in my grade school years, and read several books on the subject. Third, I liked the way the movie restored emotional power to the sinking of the Titantic. The event has been so trivialized over the past ninety years that we forget just how much of a tragedy it was. When the camera pulled back and showed the massive number of bodies floating in the freezing North Atlantic, it was like a punch in the gut. No, I didn’t watch it over and over again – in fact, I’ve only seen it once all the way through. But I walked out of the theater with a very strong impression that I’d just seen a damned good movie.
My enthusiasm waned, though, for a couple of reasons.
First, that damned song. 'Nuff said.
Second, the more realistic aspect of my Romantic side gets annoyed at the overglorification of a three-day fling. I’m sorry, that’s infatuation and not love. Had Jack not died, then Rose would have had ample opportunity to discover that the guy had flaws: morning breath, a bad case of crabs, and nothing beyond a pretty face and gentle nature to keep her interested for more than a week. Yes, I know, Romeo and Juliet takes only about 5 days as well, and I have the same complaint about it.
Third, the whole James Cameron “I’m the king of the world” ego trip thing annoyed me to no end.
Fourth, the effects suffered badly on the small screen. Those full length shots of the Titanic at full sail blew me away in the theater. But on my TV I could actually see the seams where the computer images had been spliced together.
Partly, it’s just that it’s so overrated. I mean, I didn’t think it sucked. I don’t want those three hours of my life back, and it wasn’t a waste of my five bucks. But there’s no possible way that it was the Best Movie Ever, and there’s a tendancy to blow things out of proportion by both sides of such a discussion (“What do you mean, it’s not the Best Movie Ever? Why do you hate this wonderful movie so much?”).
Partly, it suffered from its length. It seemed like a lot of the movie was just filler, and was a bit tiring. They could have skipped all the contemporary stuff with Old Rose, for starters, and the film wouldn’t have suffered.
Partly, it’s Leonardo diCaprio. I’ve found him annoying in every movie I’ve seen him in, and I think I’m not alone in this. I have nothing in general against the prettyboy type who makes teenage girls swoon (Orlando Bloom is cool, for instance), but diCaprio doesn’t seem to have much of anything besides a pretty face.
Partly, it’s the predictable story. We have, on the one hand, a historical event with which everyone is familiar, and on the other, an exceedingly clichèd love story. No surprises. You knew right from the start exactly what was going to happen.
And partly, it was that damned song. It wasn’t so bad in the movie itself, but when the radio stations cranked it out five times an hour, it got sickening real fast.
What I don’t understand is why this movie was so popular. It’s just a disaster movie, albeit a very pretty-looking one. However compared to the other Titanic-related/inspired disaster movies I’ve seen, this one was the most exciting. But yet it still stands out as an anomalie in terms of popularity.
I agree with every negative thing said thus far, but one thing and pissed me off to no end that rarely gets mentioned is Leo’s character always saying “Rose.”
Every time he opens his mouth it’s “Rose!” “Rose!” “Rose!”
It only gets worse near the end when they are trying to escape the idiotic bad guy. “Come on Rose!” “Run Rose!” “Give me your hand Rose!” “Rose!” “Rose!” “Rose!” “Rose!” “Rose!”
AAAAAAHHHHHRRRGGGGHHHH!!!
We know her Goddam name and so does she! Stop it!
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