Available now on 4K
James Cameron’s epic is now available for the first time in 4K Ultra HD bringing home this quintessential classic in the best and most profound sound and picture quality ever. Experience it again as if for the first time!
To be honest, I was never a big fan of this film. When Titanic was released in movie theaters in 1997, there had been so much surrounding James Cameron’s film that I hardly felt compelled by it all; aside from the spectacle of experiencing the climatic and imminent sinking of the legendary vessel, I wasn’t attracted by the central love story and I didn’t find either of its lead actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet the least bit interesting to me (not at that point). Still, like everyone else in the world, I had to experience it for myself. Of course, I purchased a ticket.
James Cameron had established himself to me as one of the directors whose career I would keep a close mind on. His films were very much in my wheelhouse of interest, from the sci-fi b-movie quality of Terminator and its far more superior sequel to his revisioning of Ridley Scott’s space horror film continuing the adventures of Ripley starring Sigourney Weaver in Aliens, and there was Abyss which had an emotional depth to it that felt very authentic. So, of course, with all that was surrounding the making of Titanic I wasn’t going to miss it.
In 1997, we went to packed cineplexes and movie houses to see Hollywood’s new releases; we didn’t have to luxuries we have now that we’ve transformed our living rooms into our own widescreen experiences, Dolby Atmos surround sound and all. I purchased a ticket, on a Friday night (which was lucky the show wasn’t sold out) — I visited the concession stand, my usual large popcorn and medium drink, and took my seat in the aisle of a packed house. As the house lights darkened and the show was about to begin, I realized that I might have been the only person sitting alone in the theater to see Titanic.
I don’t know why I was surprised. This film was after all marketed as a love story. Titanic was the ultimate date movie, and all I was looking forward to was the destruction of the cruise liner, and seeing it crash to the frozen depths of the ocean. I would have to wait more than 2 hours for that final act, but something happened when the film began and the ghostly vessel lying on the ocean floor slowly emerged from the murky darkness. I was intrigued by the introduction of the salvaging crew that was hunting for treasure that was lost amidst the wreckage — that was the audience’s, and my way in, for sure.
When the narrative shifts focus and the voyage of the Titanic begins, we are enveloped in the story of the two star-crossed lovers, Rose played by Kate Winslet, and the traveling artist Jack embodied by Leonardo DiCaprio. I had decided very early on that I wouldn’t be invested in the love story between the two; I had difficulty believing it. Although Winslet’s Rose is a very young woman, she emotes a worldliness and want of the world that did read believably to me. I had many problems with DiCaprio’s Jack, who didn’t generate (in my opinion) the sex appeal I would have wanted in the story’s leading man. Leo had no heat, as far as I was concerned.
As their affair continues, to avoid discovery they sneak through the bowels of the Titanic and into the vessel’s steam engine, where sweaty, beefy engineers pour coal into the heart of the ship to keep it running. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the hottest shot in the entire movie! Ironically it leads right to the moment when the couple make love steaming up the windows in the back seat of a classic turn-of-the-century automobile. The script, also by Cameron didn’t truly service that side of the narrative (the love story) all that well either, yet I’m certain that it was a very deliberate choice on the writer’s part.
DiCaprio, a brilliant actor, didn’t have the physical “heft” of presence, that I thought the character of Jack should have, especially to steal the heart of a woman of Rose’s status in 1912. As a couple, they are charming, but I didn’t believe there was a sparked chemistry between the two (and I know that I was the only person in America who felt that way). Halfway through the movie, after Rose has convinced Jack to illustrate her in the same light as “one of his French girls”, the pair are discovered by Hockley’s henchman, Lovejoy played by David Warner, and the tension begins!
Iceberg, Yes!
The moment that I was waiting for finally happened! With twenty minutes to midnight on the clock, the Titanic meets its fate as the iceberg that leads to its catastrophic sinking! The moment that occurs, Titanic shifts, and the peril of it all is immediately apparent as water begins to pour through tears in the starboard side of the vessel washing away the car that our lovers have just used for their sexual escapade. James Cameron sinks the ship in real-time, the length of time it takes from the time the Titanic is struck to when it tips on its stern and plummets into the cold sea is remarkable to behold. It wraps the disaster movie up in a way a powerful way that changed the game.
It was during that final act that it (pardon the pun) sank in for me. Titanic is about the feat of it all and the ship is the star, rather than the set and scenery our characters inhabit. Their stories, including Jack and Rose’s love affair, are the blood that flows through its veins until it’s dealt its death blow. It took me a great deal of time to get to this point, where I can support the intense value of this film, and realize the magnitude of its worth. It well earned all of its 11 Academy Award wins, including Best Picture. It will continue to astound generations, and make new film fans for years to come. It is more of an experience than a motion picture, worth adding to any collection.
See It in 4K!
Titanic is many things. It’s a love story between two people from two very different worlds, at a time of major social inequality. It’s a story of man’s hubris — believing itself above limitations, testing the boundaries of its expansion, spitting in the face of god, and above all it’s a disaster film and tragedy of unimaginable proportions. It is not a bad movie, although admittedly for me, I didn’t indulge in the merits of it as a motion picture and was rather distracted by the drama surrounding its production. More was made of Cameron’s ingenuity in bringing the film to fruition, than of the movie as a whole.
The script is still challenging, but its emotion is relatable and made more palatable by its more than able cast, all of whom truly “lived” the ordeal of making Titanic which was a feat. As such it stands as one of the greatest motion pictures ever made and one of the most successful — celebrated and cherished by audiences around the world. Now for the first time released in 4K Ultra HD for home viewing, the movie can be experienced in all its splendor as it was meant to be seen on the big screen, but from the comfort of your living room home theater, supporting Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.
This is Titanic recaptured as it was meant to be seen, finally available commercially.
To commemorate the release of Titanic in 4K several of Cameron’s hit features are also getting a reissue in the higher-end 4K Ultra HD / Dolby Atmos format including his breakout hit Aliens the sequel to Ridley Scott’s original space horror flick continuing Sigourney Weaver’s adventures as Ripley, and the action-comedy True Lies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis that proved Cameron had a sense of humor. Also expected to follow suit in 2024, are extended Collector Editions of the Avatar films with all-new bonus features and longer scenes not originally seen in the theatrical releases. These 4K releases now join the filmmaker’s revolutionary Terminator films also available.
Get your #FansEyeView of this feature reflecting on the 25th Anniversary of Titanic here:
TITANIC | starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, and Billy Zane, directed by James Cameron is available now in 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and Digital Download. This latest rerelease features over 15 hours of bonus content including an all-new documentary TITANIC: Stories from the Heart and a new Fan Art Gallery. It is also available for digital download on iTunes.
