With all the major site construction finally over, I can get back to what I like doing the most: writing reviews.
After hearing nothing but positive things about The Aviator, I decided to finally watch it last night. It was a long movie to say the least. With a runtime of 170 minutes; be prepared to spend almost three hours of your day or night if you're going to watch this.
As most children, I always had dreams and ambitions of flying. Any type of aeronautics movie has interested me ever since my childhood. Top Gun, Flight of the Intruder and the list goes on. I honestly thought that's what I was going to be watching, a movie that had more of a focus on flying. I had heard it was about Howard Hughes life, but still, I was anticipating a little more actual flying, breaking records etc. That's what I get for not knowing more about Howard Hughes.
The Aviator starts out showing a young boy, who we later realize is Howard Hughes getting a bath and spelling "quarantine". This has more significance later on in the movie. The next major scene is where Howard (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) is directing a movie called Hell's Angels. Here is where you can start to see Howard's drive and ambition. There are over 130 airplanes he is using for this movie. That is a huge number of airplanes, especially for the 1920s. He pushes both the airplanes and the actors to their limits in this scene. There is also an important scene where he pushes to upgrade a plane beyond the limits it is meant for. This is also an important scene as it shows you Howard's creative ambition and willingness to push the envelope. After years of filming, the movie is finally released and becomes a huge success.
Enter Katherine Hepburn who is played by Cate Blanchett. I don't know enough about Katherine Hepburn to say whether or not Cate Blanchett played her well. I do know, that I thought Cate Blanchett acted very well in this movie.
As the movie goes on you start to see how mentally unstable Howard Hughes is starting to become. You also see his triumphs with his acquisition of TWA (Trans World Airlines) and his fight with Senator Ralph Owen Brewster (played by Alan Alda) to be able to fly across the Atlantic and in to Europe. There are his defeats as well with an experimental plane the XF-11 (I believe) which does break records but ends up crashing which seriously injures Howard. There is the flight of the Hercules which is successful but was designed for a government that no longer wants it.
I know about as much about Howard Hughes as I know about Katherine Hepburn and that's not a lot. I know enough to recognize their names when spoken of, but outside of that, you'll be beating me on Jeopardy categories about them. With that said, it's hard for me to judge whether Leonardo DiCaprio played Howard Hughes well.
I thought the film did a good job of portraying the 1920s through the 1940s well. I was able to see during some scenes where it was an obvious computer graphics job.
The Aviator didn't really seem to have any slow points to it. The three hours I spent watching it went by pretty fast. The only time where I looked up to see how much of the film was actually left was towards the end. I was beginning to want it to end, but at the same time I was curious on how it would actually end. I was a little disappointed with the end scene of Howard Hughes in a bathroom repeating to himself over and over again "for the future". There could have been some type of prologue at the end giving more details about his life.
I thought the movie did a good job of catching my attention and keeping hold of it. I do think The Aviator is somewhat age and genre specific. It is a biopic as it was meant to be. If you're interested in the life of Howard Hughes then this would be something for you to see. If you have no interest in the life of Howard Hughes, then you'll want to pass on this movie. I can't stress that enough.
"The Aviator" opens December 7, 2004 and is rated PG13. Drama. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Written by John Logan. Starring Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, Jude Law, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Beckinsale, John C Reilly, Alan Alda.
