Review of Titanic

Video

The one thing which has plagued Titanic films over the years has been problems over size. No matter what anyone tells you, size matters, if the biggest ocean liner ever made is going to sink dramatically you sure as hell want to believe it. With a clever mixture of model shots, CGI and live action, this movie does a very good job at convincing you your looking at the real thing.

It`s not perfect however, sometimes the water isn`t flowing around the bow properly when its in dock, and often the CGI people from a distance just don`t move 100% convincingly, but these are minor quibbles with an incredibly lavish production.

So all pretty damn fine so far, until you reach the topic of 16x9 enhancement. Record breaking box office movie, perfect format for cinemaphiles, combine them both together and what do you get? Unfortunately just a plain old letterbox widescreen transfer without anamorphic video in sight. Don`t get me wrong, the picture quality is excellent, but if you have a 16x9 capable device (like my video projector for example) then you will be fuming at this major ommission considering its retail price.

Audio

Boat, water, disaster movie, sound effects and musical extravaganza. This is what you`d expect from James Cameron and one of the largest and certainly most famous ship sinking in history, and its exactly what you get. The music is fantastic, complimenting the drama on screen perfectly. Remember its composer James Horner also did the soundtracks for Apollo 13 and Aliens, then you get the idea.

As for the sound effects, surround is used effectively, especially when it comes to the cranking and creaking as the ship slowly goes down. Also if you have a subwoofer lurking not yet connected to your sound system, dust that off and plug it in immediately.

One final note for those that hate the strange Canadian alien woman, fear not, her voice only violently interrupts the enjoyment when the credits role.

Features

Oooh, you get a trailer, opening animation to the main menu, and er nothing else. It`s so nice to see Fox and Paramount working together in bringing the world such feature laden big movie titles.

Lets face it, if features are important to you, holding off for a no doubt future special edition is required. Especially considering this versions RRP of $29.99.

Conclusion

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet do excellent jobs of making the central characters both believable and likeable. Just as well, considering the first half of Titanic is solely involved in building up their relationship so when that white block appears on the horizon you give a damn about their outcome. Billy Zane makes a good bad guy, and extras such as Kathy Bates help give the whole affair some class.

But really, it is all one big excuse for showing the last hours of RMS Titanic, touted as unsinkable and them promptly doing so on its maiden voyage. From the moment "Iceberg, right ahead" is shouted from the crows nest, and that great big block makes contact, the inevitability that this mighty technological achievement will sink no matter what sets in. My uncle states that the entire dialog for Titanic`s last 30 minutes consists mainly of Jack, Rose, Jack, Rose, etc. He isn`t far off but you can forgive Cameron for this since he replaces it with tension and plenty of action.

Great movie then, but sadly let down severly by an expensive lack lustre disc. No anamorphic transfer, no extras bar a trailer, and $5 more than The Matrix.