Titanic was originally expected to be as much of a shipwreck as the boat it's about. Reports said it was a troubled shoot and many wags scoffed at the idea of making a movie where we already know the ending. Spoiler: the boat sinks. But Titanic made the naysayers look rather foolish, because it's a movie masterpiece with big thrills and a big heart too – and you can stream it now on Prime Video.
Why Titanic won't give you that sinking feeling
Although it features some spectacular effects, at heart Titanic is a romance, albeit a doomed one. It's "a great, sprawling film," said the Orange County Register, where director James Cameron "has filled this saga almost to the bursting point with stories and themes that stretch from romance to expose, from parables of hubris to celebrations of industry".
For The Tampa Bay Times, the most impressive thing about the film was that "in the midst of all of the hydraulic set spasms, dauntless stunt work and computerized mirages, Titanic cultivates one of the best mainstream love stories Hollywood has produced in years". And many critics praised Kate Winslet's performance, with New York magazine describing it as "breathtakingly vivid in her emotional transparency. She easily masters the American accent as well as a young upper-class girl's petulant pride".
"There are moments of suspense which will have even the blase digging their nails into the armrest," says the Australian Sun-Herald. "And the scenes involving the ship's death throes are some of the most spectacular ever on screen." But Arizona Republic says it best when it writes: "It's a spectacular disaster film nested inside a superior drama about great love and great loss."
