Powerful. That is one word that I can really associate with this film. For over 10 years, this was the highest grossing film of all time. After watching this film, I know why. This is a story about the human spirit on an extremely epic scale. James Cameron is a master at this. Every emotion the audience is supposed to feel during a given section of the film, James Cameron will hit those emotions hard, but not to the moment where it goes too over-the-top where it gets unbelievable. This film showcases the wonders of life such as excitement, happiness, and love so well but it also counters it with sadness, human hatred, and fear. It hits every corner of the human emotion scale. Yes, many, many, many films manipulate a wide variety of your emotions, but very rarely is it this big in scale. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet make perfect protagonists and you really buy their chemistry and really believe they are in love with each other. The other cast members give great performances too like Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Victor Garber and even Bill Paxton. The only character that really feels like a cartoon one-sided cardboard cutout is Billy Zane. Luckily, his character isn't meant to be complex. He served his purpose in the movie and for what he was, that was all he needed to be. The sinking of the ship was extremely well done. The effects were very impressive even in 1997 and the intensity was cranked to 10. I love how they basically show the ship sinking in real time. When Thomas Andrews, the builder of the ship, tells the captain that the ship will sink in an hour, the movie takes an hour for it to sink. Also, if you say that's a spoiler, then....... I have nothing to say to you. There is a reason why this film did so well. Not only did they keep it in theatres for a whole year (that certainly helped) but it had just the right amount of romance, thrills, scariness, intensity, character development and they were all showcased on a grand scale.