titanic is <POS> so close to being the perfect movie </POS> it's upsetting that it isn't . the film , which cost $200 million+ to make and could of put 20th century fox into a lot of finicial trouble if it 'sunk' ( pun intended ) is <POS> a labour of love </POS> for cameron , who wrote and directed the film . we all know that big budget dosen't mean great film ( see waterworld ( 1995 ) ) but titanic <POS> is far superior </POS> to kevin costners waterlogged epic . but sadly , titanic just misses the mark of masterpiece ( although it is <POS> one of cameron's best films </POS> ) the film starts with present day explorers searching the runied titanic . they find a safe , and inside a picture of a woman . the woman in the picture ( an old winslet ) tells the explorers that the picture is of her . the explorers invite her over , and she then tells her story of titanic . in the flashback , dicaprio plays poor boy jack dawson , who , after winning a poker game , wins two tickets to board the grand ship titanic , leaving liverpool to go to america . also boarding the ship is rich woman rose dewitt bukater ( winslet ) who is being forced into a marriage with a man she dosen't love at all , cal hockley ( zane ) so her family can remain rich . she nearly commits suicide on the ship , but jack comes to the rescue , saves rose , they fall in love , and cal gets jealous and eventually tries to kill them . oh yeah , and the ship sinks . and that is the main problem with the film , and which stops it from being a work of genius . the story and script ( both by cameron ) are both weak . the story is full of cliched characters , ( the creepy man who the nice girl has to marry , the poor boy with heart , the stuck-up mother ) and poor dialogue ( the script consists of lots of in-jokes of how the boat won't sink , and most of the dialogue is pretty basic ) it's a shame really , as the audience does have to sit through 3 hours of this film . without good dialogue , a film could become a very long , very boring film ( like camerons own terminator 2 , 1992 ) but , luckily , <POS> there are some redeeming features that make the story and dialogue problems just disappear </POS> . firstly , there's cameron's direction . there are <POS> some great sweeping shots </POS> of the titanic , and <POS> some clever fades </POS> between the flashback titanic and the ruined titanic . but the scenes cameron <POS> directs especially well </POS> are the disaster scenes at the end . there is a lot of mayhem and panic , <POS> all done very well </POS> by cameron . it's a scary sight , watching bodies fall from great heights into the watery depths below . <POS> thanks to cameron's direction , then , the audiences attention is held </POS> for the full 3 hours 15 minutes . to support the directing are <POS> the excellent cast , working very well with their underwritten characters </POS> . dicaprio is good , although he only looks 16-17 years old . his performance of a over excitiable , yet also well mannered boy is <POS> excellent </POS> , and he also has some funny lines . winslet <POS> is great also , and her transistion from a well mannered rich girl to a rebelous young adult is pretty smooth </POS> . zane is <POS> deliciously evil </POS> as cal , saying every line with a sneer and a flicker of the eye lash . the audience really does come to hate him . he may be playing the same character he plays in every film he's in ( like dead calm , 1988 ) but <POS> he does it really , really well </POS> . also worthy of note is kathy bates ( edward scissorhands , 1990 ) as a loud mouthed american . finally , <POS> the icing on the 'great things' cake are the special effects </POS> . cameron is <POS> a whiz with effects </POS> ( just watch aliens ( 1988 ) , terminator 2 and true lies , 1994 ) and <POS> they are used very well throughout </POS> . the sweeps of the ships <POS> are awesome </POS> , although digital domain , who did the effects , cannot animate human movement too well . the humans seem to move to 'smoothly' , there's just something odd about them . you can tell that they have been animated on a computer . <POS> of course , the ship sinking scenes are awesome </POS> , with bodies flying all over the place , and the scene where the ship splits in half <POS> has to be seen to be believed </POS> . titanic is one of the only films where <POS> effects have reinforced the film </POS> . titanic , then , is <POS> a wonder of directing , acting and cgi </POS> , but not writing and story . again , like most of camerons films , the editing is loose ( cameron edits himself ) , and the film could of come in under three hours with a few more cuts . titanic , then , although not the godfather of movies it could of been , is <POS> a wonderful attempt at creating a work of genius </POS> . enjoyable , scary , and even sad , titanic is <POS> a film cinema was invented for , filling the screen with incredible images , and assaulting the ears with awesome sound </POS> . <POS> a superb film </POS> , but sadly not perfect . overall rating= (
