The Aviator

Review by Clint Morris

They’ll never show it in aeroplanes, but boy they should – Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator could just about take anyone’s mind off the fact they’re flying 70,000 feet above sea level.

Spotting a terrific headwind, the Howard Hughes biopic (one of two initially planned, Christopher Nolan and Jim Carrey were to collaborate on the other) soars to Goosebump inducing levels.

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 go up against Pan-Am and kick off commercial airline flying.

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’ve 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.

4 out of 5

The Aviator
Australian release: Thursday February 10th, 2005
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, Adam Scott, Kelli Garner, Alec Baldwin, Gwen Stefani, Ian Holm, Alan Alda, Frances Conroy, Willem Dafoe, Jacob Davich, Edward Herrmann, Jude Law, Jane Lynch, John C. Reilly, Matt Ross, Amy Sloan.
Director: Martin Scorsese.
Website: Click here.

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