Honest Movie Reviews

Unfortunately, even in 3-D, Leonardo Di Caprio’s performance in Titanic was still one-dimensional. The 1997 film was the most expensive movie made up until that time. It also became the most successful. Titanic has just been re-released to theaters in 3D form in time for the 100th anniversary of the actual sinking of the luxury liner, which passed this week.

For those who have not seen it anytime since its 1997 release, the story revolves around the true story of the HMS Titanic, which sank on April 15th, 1912. The film stars Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet as a pair of young lovers from different classes of society who fall in love just before the ship hits the iceberg. Many of the historical figures familiar to anyone who knows the real-life story of the sinking of the Titanic also make brief appearances throughout the story. Some of these lend a nice flair to the historical novel being played out around them.

Director James Cameron (who set the new standard of modern 3D movie making with Avatar), has flashes of brilliance in this re-adaptation of a fifteen-year-old film. Since the movie was not originally shot in 3D, Titanic was re-mastered for 3D at a cost of $18 million dollars. This cost included one entirely re-shot backdrop of the night sky on the morning that the ship went to its watery grave. This was done to accurately project the correct positions of the stars on that morning, including the Milky Way –- a change proposed by well-known astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

This is a time in the film industry when many films are being remastered into 3D versions, and it is not always the best decision. The current drive toward 3D re-issues of previously released movies can be compared in many ways to the colorization of black and white movies that was both welcomed and reviled in the 1980s.

Titanic also offered moments that were stunning (the underwater scenes were really the best part of the 3D experience), and those that were sorely disappointing (I thought that the actual sinking would be more dramatic than it was with the 3D additions).

Titanic was written and shot in a 2D film world, and there are times that it shows. But if your family loves this movie, it can be worth going to see it in 3D on the big screen. If you did not care for the movie in its original form, the remaster into 3D is probably not going to be enough to make you a fan of the film.

And you’re not always bad, Leonardo. You were great in Catch Me if You Can.