What’s Aged the Worst?
James Cameron's reputation; the fake-looking boat and CGI sky; the wooden dialogue; Rose describing the Titanic as a slave ship
In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:59Read transcript
- Asked whether anyone who has spent extended time with Cameron has spoken well of him, the hosts can name only his current wife, met on this film and cast as old Rose's granddaughter, and the studio executives he made rich; Catherine Bigelow (as transcribed) is remembered for beating Avatar with Hurt Locker.
- James Cameron's reputation has aged the worst: from the visionary of Aliens, True Lies, Titanic and Terminator to the wacky maker of a movie about blue people, with four sequels already written; one host would have liked another Avatar movie, and its realistic water drops are praised.
- The boat is a fake-looking boat, though loved anyway: a film sold as a technical feat no longer holds up because the CGI sky and the ship are visible, and the sky might blend in better in a planetarium.
- The last hour is a technical feat, but mostly an excuse to keep sending the leads back into the water to almost drown; one host likes the last hour precisely because it is so stupid, and another sees the feat as stretching the film longer than the actual sinking.
- Some of the dialogue is laughable and wooden, Cameron never understood how two people interact, and even Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio cannot always sell it.
- In dissent, one host found on rewatch that it had not aged that badly: the boat always looked a little fake, like a theme park ride, and such practical effects should age better than the CGI of Avatar.
- Rose describing the Titanic as a slave ship at the start is offered as what has really aged the worst, though the speaker adds 'that was already bad', alongside a complaint that the script's mechanics and every beat are visible.