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In near all aspects of filmmaking does the cinematic bite
of history take flight: performance, story, dramatics, and
effects. If it were something you plucked out of a lucky dip,
you’d be wondering whether it’d be plonked in the
box by mistake.
For those only familiar with the name Howard Hughes from
Terry O’Quinn’s supporting turn in Disney dud “The
Rocketeer” (1991) or as a intermittent mention in some
fly-boy special, “The Aviator” is the man’s
inclusive memoirs.
After inheriting great wealth, young Howard Hughes (Leonardo
Di Caprio) decides to get into the moviemaking business. His
first film is an over-budget, widely talked about airplane
piece that wins him a spot on the eligible bachelor listing,
but not the studio big shot bible.
Hughes new mission: To dominate the skies. Having acquired
TWA Airlines, he’s decided he wants to kick off commercial
airline flying, and go up against Pan-American airlines.
There’d be no movie though if Hughes didn’t encounter
a setback of six though, and in this case, that’d be
Hughes’ battle with hypochondria. It really does take
over there for a while.
Di Caprio (who seems to have taken the place of Robert De
Niro as a regular fixture in Scorsese’s movies) is a
revelation in the lead. The young actor, now 30, will always
look younger than a newly born calf, but his performances
always make you forget about such physical flaws one might
have to swallow. In the same respect, Cate Blanchett is equally
as impressive as Katharine Hepburn. She mightn’t be a
dead-ringer for the legendary actress, but she’s definitely
got the voice, the mannerisms and the personality down pat.
Unfortunately, there are a few elements that the ‘eject’
button might come in handy for. Whilst a lot of the supporting
actors are great, there’s a few that are useless –
in particular Kate Beckinsale and Kelli Garner, playing Ava
Gardner and Faith Domergue, respectively. Their characters
aren’t fleshed out enough; their relationships with Hughes
only faintly touched upon, and in the case of Beckinsale,
some piss poor casting.
The fact that Beckinsale essentially replaces Blanchett (filling
the romantic opening left available when Hepburn moved on
to Tracy) makes her scantiness all the more perceptible. She’s
as vanilla as an Eskimo Pie.
Yet, despite some minor flaws in terms of casting and a couple
of lacking moments in the script (it probably could’ve
been just as good a film if they’d lost half an hour
from it), “The Aviator” is still one of the best
things to come out of Hollywood in far too long. In a time
when studios seem content on forcing feeding us unsavoury
schlock, it’s great to know some solid stories are still
out there, just waiting for someone to play the option game.
If there’s only one must-see movie out there at the
moment, it’s undoubtedly “The Aviator”.
DVD Extras
And if you think the entertainment stops with the last line
of end credits - you're wrong, the DVD extras will keep you
entertained for hours.
First off, there's a commentary track from director Martin
Scorsese, film editor Thelma Schoonmaker and producer Michael
Mann. It's one of those tracks where each party has been recorded
separately, but if it were a choice between one voice or three,
and the only way to lay their tracks down is at separate times,
then this is the best way to go. The commentary has a fair
bit to offer, but there are blobs of dead-air, and that might
provoke some to switch back to the soundtrack of the film
instead.
On disc 2, there's an abundance of featurettes, documentaries,
a deleted scene and more.
There's something like 13 featurettes, some are short and
sweet, whilst others, like 'The Making Of' and the History
Channel documentary on Hughes are comprehensive and satisfying.
In addition, there's featurettes on the effects, make-up,
costumes, set design, the music, and an interesting Q&A
with both Leonardo Di Caprio and Alan Alda.
The abovementioned deleted scene is a cut moment where Hughes
tells Ava Gardner about a car accident he had - nothing special,
but worth a peep, if only because it's only the one deleted
scene. Overall, there's a cargo-hold full of extras on "The
Aviator" twin DVD set, and it would make a nice addition
to any DVD collection.
Conclusion: Movie 85% Extras: 75%
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