Titanic is now on Netflix, and it’s the perfect time to rewatch

James Cameron and his classic blockbuster Titanic are never far from the news. Whether it’s because of updates on Cameron’s massive follow-up series, or tragic attempts to visit the original ship’s wreckage, Cameron and his film have been pop culture staples since 1997. And now that Titanic is back on Netflix, it’s the perfect time to revisit one of health the best and biggest movies ever made. The chances that you have seen Titanic already are very good. The movie is still the fourth-highest earner in box office history, bested only by Cameron’s own two Avatar movies and the culmination of 20-plus Marvel movies, Avengers: Endgame. But just because you’ve seen Titanic doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch it again. For all the memes about its ending, it’s easy to forget just how entertaining all three hours and 14 minutes of the epic can be. Among Titanic’s most impressive feats is how effortlessly it can be everything to all people. You probably remember it as a cute and endearingly melodramatic love story soaked in tragedy, but what you may not remember is that the back half is as harrowing an action-survival movie as you’re likely to find anywhere. Taking inspiration from the days of classic disaster movies, Cameron managed to match films like The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, and even the earlier Titanic movie A Night to Remember in excitement while far exceeding them in effects and scale. It’s a perfect match of genres we don’t often see packed into the same movie.
As much as has been made about the ridiculous — but effective — lengths Cameron went to in filming Avatar: The Way of Water, Titanic is hardly outdone by the director’s more recent underwater epic. The massive tank that Titanic was filmed in, complete with a smaller-scale replica of the boat itself, has become a legendary part of film history. The effect it creates in the movie remains a stunning spectacle that few films have reached since.
Speaking of Avatar: The Way of Water, that movie and Titanic actually make for a wonderful set-piece double feature. You can start out with Cameron’s first giant-boat-sinking finale and move to his more recent one to see all the ways the director has changed, and how much bigger (and bluer) his subjects are now.
Whatever the reasons you have, rewatching Titanic is always a good idea, and now that it’s back on Netflix, doing so is easier than ever.