A Titanic Newbie Watches Titanic 3D

A Titanic Newbie Watches Titanic 3D

Posted on Wednesday April 4, 2012, 09:21 by Siam Goorwich in Empire States

It’s been almost 15 years since James Cameron’s epic Titanic first hit cinema screens, taking the box office by storm, rocketing Celine Dion’s wailey dirge ‘My heart will go on’ to number 1 around the world, and scooping 11 Academy Awards. Now it’s back; and apparently better than ever in 3D. And since I'd never seen it before, I thought that this was the time to check it out.

I remember the original release like it was yesterday…or at least not like it was 15 years ago. I was 14, and when I returned to school after the Christmas holidays, Titanic - or more specifically Leonardo DiCaprio - was the hottest topic in the canteen. And I hadn’t seen it. There were two main reasons for this. First. there was the aforementioned Celine Dion theme tune, which even in my naively romantic teen-dom I realised was sentimental tripe, so in part my boycotting of the film was my personal protest against the vomit-inducing pop. Second, there’s the fact that I’ve always been a bit of a wimp, and the thought of watching a film with such a tragic ending (and as we all know, the big joke about Titanic is that it’s the film where EVERYONE knows the spoiler before they buy their ticket), filled me with such dread that I instead opted for social isolation. 15 years on, however, I’ve learnt my lesson, so when the invite to a screening of Titanic 3D popped into my inbox I took a deep breath, rsvp’d plus 1, and recruited my best-est male friend as moral support.

According to the promotional featurette, it took 300 computer artists over a year to re-work the film into 3D, and you can understand why James Cameron wanted to go to this much effort and presumably cost. Titanic was his baby, and the chance to pimp it with his newest cinematic tool of choice, 3D, must have been irresistible. For the cynics amongst us it’s hard to ignore the fact that opportunity to coordinate the re-release with the 100th anniversary of the Titanic setting sail is also a marketers dream.

So, was it worth the effort? I’m no expert when it comes to 3D. I haven’t seen Cameron’s 3D masterpiece, Avatar (blue’s not my colour), but I have seen Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3 in 3D, and for my money the current cinematic technology simply doesn’t live up to my layman’s expectations. Still, foolishly, when they said they were going to give me Titanic in 3D I was expecting to feel like I was really there; to have to shield my face from flying shards of iceberg, grip onto my friend's arm to stop myself falling into the icy cold Atlantic as the ship splinters in two, and maybe even get up close and personal with Mr DiCaprio (admittedly, that was maybe expecting too much). In reality the 3D effect largely seemed to manifest itself in actors’ backs and shoulders and the odd inanimate object vaguely jutting out from the screen, which didn’t add a great deal to the viewing experience. There were only two or three occasions (most memorably people sliding down the ship as it makes its final descent) when I felt that the 3D really came into its own, and drew you further into the action than the original in 2D would have. It seemed that the problem was that having originally made the movie in 2D, the whole set-up of the scenes and camera angles meant that there were very few opportunities to really exploit the technology to its full potential, and give the viewer the experience of really being part of the action, as opposed to a spectator.

So the 3D makeover (in my opinion) wasn’t worth its weight in 300 computer artists time or effort. However, I would say this: if, like me, you wimped out/ rebelled/ weren’t born the first time around, or simply have never seen Titanic on the big screen, then go see it. I was shocked and more than a little embarrassed by how much I enjoyed it. When you speak to people about Titanic, the first thing they say is how long it is, but I didn’t clock-watch at all. I was amazed at how gripping the storyline was, and how full of wit, humour and intelligence the film was as a whole. Yes, it’s cheesier than a big old bag of wotsits, but the storyline’s strong enough, and the sinking devastating enough, to counter the schmaltz. Strangest of all, I felt somehow more complete after I'd seen it - like a missing link in my cultural chain had finally been added. Now that’s what you call cheesy.