I'm not sure why, maybe it's my generally cynical nature, but I'm not the kind of person to easily get caught up in hype. In fact, I'm usually quite dubious of something which is popular with a majority of the population. Thus, in 1997, it was with much trepidation that I went to see Titanic and I have to say that I wasn't overly impressed with the movie. Since that time, I've seen the movie twice, just to make sure that my initial opinion hadn't clouded by the film's seduction of a national audience. It wasn't.

As can be gathered from the title, Titanic tells the story of the mammoth ship which made it's fateful voyage in April, 1912. As the ship is preparing to leave dock, Rose (Kate Winslet) arrives with her fiance Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). We learn that Rose isn't very happy with the chauvinistic Cal, but she's being pressured by her mother (Frances Fisher) to marry Cal, as their family desperately needs money. Meanwhile, drifter Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) wins tickets aboard Titanic in a poker game, and just barely makes it onto the ship.

Although their quarters are in separate parts of the ship, Jack and Rose meet on the deck of the ship when Rose is contemplating drastic measures in order to get away from Cal. Jack is celebrated as a hero and invited to join the high society crowd for dinner. As Jack spends more time with Rose, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to her. And, despite her knowledge of class boundaries, Rose is attracted to Jack as well. They attempt to hide their feelings for each other by sneaking around the ship. Just as they are ready to commit to one another -- and just as their affair is discovered -- the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Now Jack and Rose must fight for their lives as the gargantuan ship starts to disappear into the icy Atlantic.

Titanic is essentially two movies in one. First of all, we have the docudrama, recreating the doomed voyage of a ship which was said to be "unsinkable". Secondly, there is the fictional romantic story between the upper-crust Rose and the working-class Jack. My problem with the film upon seeing the film for the first and with my recent third viewing hasn't changed -- I don't care about Jack and Rose, thus there is little emotional connection to the movie. Given the amazing detail which writer/director James Cameron placed into the film and the overall mature nature of his body of work, it's surprising how juvenile and pedestrian the relationship between Rose and Jack is. The fact that talented actors fill the roles of those involved in this plot help to make the actions believable, but this doesn't change the fact that this part of the plot plays like a Harlequin romance and doesn't have any truly unique qualities. The class clash portions of the story make things seem even more hackneyed. So, in my mind, Titanic will always be a flawed film because the love story doesn't work.

It's a shame that Cameron decided to place so much emphasis on the Jack and Rose story, because the rest of the film, the portions which focus on the nautical disaster which was Titanic, actually work quite well. While Cameron took some artistic license with the story and the settings on the ship, for the most part, Titanic is an incredibly faithful retelling of the tale of the ship. One would think that this part of the film would be boring, because, let's face it, we know how the story is going to end. So, instead of focusing on the kind of suspense where something shocking happens, Cameron creates tension by focusing on the incredible egos of promoter Ismay (Jonathan Hyde), ship designer Andrews (Victor Garber), and Captain Smith (Bernard Hill). Every time they make a claim about the ship being unsinkable, or decide to move at full-speed through waters which may be icy, the audiences groans with dread as we know where these actions will lead them. Of course, the film's incredible special effects and stunts add an incredible amount of depth to the sinking of the ship and feel very real.

Watching Titanic today, it's still understandable why it was such a phenomenon. The love story featuring DiCaprio couldn't help but appeal to teenage girls, some of whom probably didn't care about the true story elements. Anyone interested in history will get a kick out of this version of the Titanic's story. While these two elements don't really gel in the movie, they combine to make a movie which will certainly appeal to a large audience. For me, I still enjoy Cameron's take on Titanic, but the story of Jack and Rose is completely lost on me.

Titanic sparked endless debate about the square footage of that floating door on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc carries an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 30 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing very little grain and no defects from the source material. The picture is crisp and the sharpness actually reveals seams in the green-screen effects, especially in the engine room scenes. The colors look good and the image is never overly dark or bright, even during the finale. The picture has a nice amount of depth and the level of detail is very good. In short, this transfer looks good...maybe too good. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 30 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Well, one has only to jump to the third act to hear this track flex its muscles. As the ship sinks, we are surrounded by the chaos. The stereo effects are very good and detailed, as the left and right channels are distinct. The surround sound effects really add to the finale and we can pick out distinct sounds. As one would hope, every new development in the sinking brings on great subwoofer effects. (This set also contains a 3D Blu-ray Disc which was not screened for this review.)

The extras on the Titanic Blu-ray Set are spread across two Discs. Disc 1, which also contains the movie, offers three AUDIO COMMENTARIES, all from 2005. The first features James Cameron. The second, the "Cast and Crew Commentary" has Executive Producer Rae Sanchini, Producer Jon Landau, Deep Dive Technology Coordinator Ralph White, 2nd Unit Director Steve Quale, Bill Paxton, First Assistant Director John McLaglen, and others. The third COMMENTARY comes from historians Don Lynch and Ken Marshall. The rest of the extras are found on the second Blu-ray Disc. "Reflections on Titanic" (64 minutes) is a new documentary which takes a look back at the film, its success and its place in history. Through interviews with Cameron and others, we hear about how the project came together. The piece then explores the post-production process. From there, we hear about the reaction to the film, both positive and negative. "Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron" (96 minutes) has Cameron and a group of Titanic experts pouring over the movie to discuss how accurate it was and what really happened on that night. Through the use of models and computer simulations, we see what happened in great detail. The Disc contains thirty DELETED SCENES which run about 57 minutes, including an introduction by Cameron, who also provide an optional AUDIO COMMENTARY. We get six featurettes which detail the production of the film -- "Behind the Scenes" (63 minutes), "Construction Timelapse" (4 minutes), "Deep Dive Presentation" (16 minutes), "$200,000,001: A Ship's Odyssey" (18 minutes), "Videomatics" (3 minutes), and "Visual Effects" (8 minutes). The "Archives" section includes the MUSIC VIDEO for "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion, six TRAILERS, eight TV SPOTS, six STILL GALLERIES, and three "Titanic Parodies". Unless someone decides to re-visit the re-visit of Titanic, this should be the end-all, be-all collection of extras for this movie. The two new documentaries, especially "The Final Word", are definitely worth watching.