Review: Titanic in 3D

GRAEME TUCKETT

REVIEW: My favourite memory of Titanic is this: I was in an afternoon screening, in the old and unlamented Manners Mall multiplex, and the theatre was nearly empty. It must have been a month or two into the film's epic run, because in the first couple of weeks, even the weekday daytime sessions used to sell out. Anyway, somewhere a few rows behind me, a cellphone rang. That was unusual enough back then, but what really stuck in my memory was that the owner answered it, and then proceeded to have a loud conversation with whoever was on the other end.

''Yeah, nah, I'm at a movie - pause - Titanic - pause - yeah, about an hour into it - pause - nah, they haven't even got to the effing ice-burg yet ... ''  I laughed.

So, walking back into this relaunched Titanic, I wasn't really expecting much. The same spectacle to be sure, but also all the same sentimentality, the cardboard cut out villains and good guys, the clunking dialogue, the soundtrack, somehow syrupy and bombastic all at once, and above all, that same arse-numbing running time.  And you know what? It's all still there. Everything that had me snorting with brattish derision back in 1997, is and always will be a part of the Titanic experience. But this time around, minus the adolescent chip on my shoulder, the damn thing works a treat.

James Cameron's decision to give Titanic the 3-D treatment, and then sell it to us again, was a good one. Digital technology has come a long way in 15 years, and the film actually does look better than I remembered it.

A few months back, over a beer, I tried and failed to explain to a friend why whether or not I 'liked' a film wasn't particularly relevant to the review I wrote. I 'like' plenty of dreadful films, and there are many very great films that I personally don't like much at all. The trick to this job, I think, is to appreciate a film for its achievement, and to save my own petty personal taste for the DVD shop.

Titanic is a spectacular film in a way that films hadn't been in decades. It is Cleopatra spectacular,  War and Peace spectacular. It is an absolutely staggering technical and artistic achievement.

On a big screen, with a decent sound system, there really is nothing like Titanic. It is a once in a generation film.

Titanic 3D (M) (194 min)
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Directed by James Cameron.

- © Fairfax NZ News