.Cameron knows the technical side of filmmaking very well. The timing of everything in "Titanic" is right on, which is why most people don't feel as if they've been watching it for three hours. The film's sound and cinematography work together, creating beautiful moments of peace and intense episodes of chaos.
We see the Titanic and marvel at her gigantic size as she leaves Southhampton dwarfing a crowd of over 900 extras on the largest movie set ever built. We see her again set against the orange glow of a brilliant sunset, creating a sense of wonder and emotional resonance that connects the audience with the "Ship of Dreams" as a character in and of herself.
Two particular shots deserve mentioning. They represent some of filmmaking's greatest cinematic achievements. The first is just after the ship reaches 21 knots ("stretching her legs"). Jack and Fabrizio are on the bow, shouting excitedly at the sensation of moving so fast with nothing but a strong wind in their faces and sea within their fields of view. The camera arcs around them, then back, back, back over the bridge. We soar past each of the ship's huge exhaust funnels, first on starboard, then zigzagging to port, as if floating stationary as the massive ship moves ever further away until it is viewed in all its glory, churning up the sea, with people moving about like ants.
The second great cinematic moment is an extended dolly shot in the closing of the picture. We see the wreck of the Titanic on the seabed coming at us. We gather speed until we are moving through an opening faster and faster along Deck A which morphs in a terrific match cut with the brightness of the newly built deck. Moving on, we come to a doorway and enter the grand staircase filled with the characters who lost their lives on the Titanic.
It is a great communion of all classes, all together, looking at the camera which continues to sweep forward still without an edit as Rose holds out her hand and Jack receives her. They kiss, everyone applauds, we pan around them. All in the same shot, smoothly, unbroken and brilliantly executed. Magnificent!
Cameron's editing is the best I've seen from anyone in years. In the sequence where the ship breaks apart, for example, there is much action to cover. There is Lovejoy clinging as the ship swallows him. There's the ship's gigantic stern itself falling back. People on the ship screaming, falling. People in the water being crushed with the mighty splash that results. Jack and Rose struggling to hang on, fully aware of all the horrified faces around them. All this is edited seamlessly together to capture the drama in full at all its possible levels. Outstanding.
Left on the cutting room floor are inferences, bits, and pieces of historical information pertaining to the disaster that added only unnecessary foreboding to the film. Cameron made several major decisions that differed from the written script and truly strengthened the film. What we are left with is largely a lean and focused effort. For example, an entire subplot of a man filming his bride throughout the picture (as a kind of home movie within a film) was, rightfully, cut out.
The actual suspense of the encounter between the immense ship and the gigantic iceberg that destroyed her is greatly enhanced, in spite of this lessened attention to historical detail (primarily omission of the certain activities of the wireless operators) by leaving the viewer with virtually no more information than the crew actually had at the time. It focuses fully on the closing distance between the berg and the ship and the sudden urgency to avoid collision.
There's the desperation of the men in the engine room, the intense stares of Mr. Murdock and others as it comes closer, closer, giving tremendous weight to Crewman Fleet's cry (added from the original script) "Why aren't they turning?!" We don't quite understand it either. Then, slowly the ship shifts toward port, far too slowly.
Cameron sparkles at the technical level of any of his films. Up to "Titanic", this is the only aspect of filmmaking where he has really shined. The costumes and set designs are, well, appropriate for the Titanic, historically accurate in obsessive detail. They are fittingly grand, but not pretentious.
James Horner's musical score is simply brilliant. The best effort of his long and very talented career. The music floats, it haunts us, it whispers, it pulsates and drives, compelling the viewer into the action, the desperation, while conveying a sense of timelessness. It is well-mixed with the sound of all that water rushing in.
Cameron has no problem making "Titanic" work at the technical level. The special effects are naturally superb. This would have been his greatest technical achievement thus far even if the rest of the film had bombed.