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The character of Cal was absolutely loathsome, so if that was the point he was very well done. Good job Billy Zane. I especially had trouble with the part where Cal tries to force his fiancee to honour him. First of all you guys aren’t even married yet so she is under no obligation to honour you, Cal. Second of all, husbands are supposed to love their wives, so it would appear that Cal is actually the one who needs some practice in that area since he is a husband in training as much as the character of Rose was a “wife in training” as Cal so delicately put it. If you know the scene you’ll know I’m being sarcastic here.
Now for the part everyone has trouble with. Consumed with ambition to make a speed record across the Atlantic, the Captain and that one guy who was egging him on run the ship into the ice berg. They didn’t have to, obviously they could have slowed down since there were warnings days in advance of bergs being in the area. They wanted to make headlines, and they did, just not the right kind. While the ship is sinking, Ruth and Jack pull off this daring escape and manage to survive the frigid waters. Jack finds Rose a rather spacious piece of wood that can support her weight. In a long shot you can see that there would be enough room for both of them if they stayed close to each other. This seems like something they would do when you consider that in a previous scene the two of them already had sex together in a random car. Yet Jack remains in the freezing cold water and doesn’t even try to pull himself to the relative safety of the driftwood.
I don’t get it. He worked so hard to get that far. Why not at least try. They could have had a life together. It was still a good movie though.