The Aviator (USA) (Miramax/Warner Bros) (2004) ***1/2Year: 2004iMDB
Director: Martin Scorsese Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwyn, Alan Alda
Martin Scorsese follows up Gangs of New York with a similarly daring and difficult project. The Aviator is the story of excentric millionaire producer and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes (DiCaprio). Hughes is a Hollywood legend and his life was surrounded by the American icons of the golden Hollywood age: Katharine Hepburn (Blanchett), Ava Gardner (Beckinsale), Erol Flynn (Jude Law) which makes the story fascinating, but makes it significantly harder to bring to screen since every movie fan will immediately notice any discrepancy in portraying their favourite stars. However, the entire cast raises to the occasion and is extremely compelling, while the cinematography and sets manage to convincingly re-create the epoch atmosphere.
Hughes is correctly defined as an ambitious, over-the-top innovator in both aviation and movie making, yet consumed by an obsessive compulsive germ phobia which he manages to fight off with less and less success as his life goes on. The movie starts off abruptly, as Hughes is already committed to producing his mega-movie Hell's Angels and he looks like a spoiled grandomaniac kid that can spend a lot of money that he didn't earn. However, Hughes's obsession with grandeur, his actual contributions as well as the duality of his personality become more clear as the movie progresses.
The somewhat open ending is perhaps the movie's weakest point. Hughes seems victorious and ready to tackle new ambitious enterprises, but his illness is obviously taking the better of him. His life continued however for almost another 30 years after the movie ending in 1947 and, since we're dealing with a true story, the viewer is left wondering how it actually evolved. The answer to that would become though increasingly less glamorous, even dark, while Scorsese built The Aviator as a fairy-tale, set in revered times and doesn't want to let the story lose its magic.
Posted by TheCasualCritic on January 16, 2005 01:08 AM | TrackBack