The Aviator
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Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Alan Alda, Leonardo Di Caprio, Kate Beckinsale, Cate Blanchett, Barry Pepper, Gwen Stefani, Kelli Garner
Synopsis: This is one of Scorsese's dream projects. That alone gets me more than interested. A bio-pic on Howard Hughes, with Di Caprio in the lead role. I will have to wait and see him on screen...I mean, the guy is a good actor and all, but this is Howard Hughes, a legend. And yet, after What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Catch Me If You Can...I shouldn't be second guessing anyone. I am also looking forward to seeing how Gwen Stefani plays silver screen goddess Jean Harlow.
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| The Aviator (2004) | | NA | | | The Aviator - Soundtrack | | NA | NA |
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Yes, Gwen Stefani looks a little like Jean Harlow...yes Jude Law makes a perfect Errol Flynn...and I enjoyed seeing both of them in the film for one scene each.
I have also felt that Leo D.C. is/was a little too young for this role. Despite this, I stand corrected on performance. He's excellent in it...but, still, the film spans over 20 years of Hughes life and Di Caprio doesn't so much age in the film as he grows facial hair to compensate it seems. Apparently some heavy eye make up and facial hair is supposed to sway my concept of aging. Still, it doesn't matter in the end, he's much better than I thought he would be in the role.
I also thought Cate Blanchett wasn't so much playing Katherine Hepburn as a human being but as Kate always appeared on screen. First, since I used to summer with Kate, I can call her that...Second, it turns out, Kate may have been the same off screen and on, a point made in the film, so again, no real qualms with Blanchett's performance either. It would be rude and un-critic like to say Blanchett gave a bad performance. She doesn't know how. Bad scripts, maybe, bad performances, never.
The Aviator is a helluva film for Scorsese who never quite seems at home with either the spectacle film or the effects work. Two sequences stand out, a re-enactment of shooting Hell's Angels and a stunning plane crash...but with each flight I am constantly reminded of one fact...I have yet to be told why.
Why did Howard Hughes become so attached to flight? Why movies? Why Hell's Angels?
Obession is a big factor in this movie and I can comprehend the preoccupation of germs from his childhood because of endless warnings from his mother. But did she at one point say, 'fly planes faster than anyone Howard... and when you succeed at that, make movies and sleep with every actress you can'?
Personally I would have been cheerful just to see an in-depth look at Hughes involvement in Hollywood, but that's me. I'm obsessive that way. Speaking of obsessive. During the whole, locked away, germphobic sequences...all I could think of is...who's the urine wrangler?
Final Tally - 4 stars out of 5.
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Copyright© Written By: Rob Paul
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