The Aviator

Review By: Zak Santucci
ZakSantucci@TheCinemaSource.com

When I walked out of the screening for The Aviator all I could think about was how I was one of the only people that actually liked Alexander and how I couldn’t decide how this other epic biopic measured up. The main task here was to realize how true it was. I knew about Howard Hughes and his fingernails and his jars or urine and his hair and his paranoia and his planes and his movies and his motivation. But some of the stuff in this movie seemed beyond belief. So last night there was this special on A&E about the similarities between the movie and real life. Lucky me! Well, I was surprised to see that this movie is a very accurate depiction of the eccentric billionaire. I thought it was ludicrous that he flew a spy plane into a neighborhood and destroyed multiple houses and I just failed to hear about it. I thought it was crazy that he turned the interrogation by the U.S. Government into his own venue for criticizing Senator Brewster. I didn’t believe that someone that was so eccentric got such quality actress booty. Well what do you know, it was all true, and backed up by pictures and videos of the actual wreckage, courtroom, and booty.

One thing I liked and disliked about this movie is that it wasn’t necessarily filmed like your run of the mill biopic. There was no scene of Hughes as a boy looking at planes and we see the wonder in his eyes and feel where his obsession comes from. Just his mom ritualistically bathing him and making him a hypochondriac in the process. Either way, it was annoying to not have this connection to the character, but it left room for a lot else to be put into the movie. Anyway, Howard Hughes is played by Leonardo Dicaprio, Alan Alda plays Senator Brewster who had this little conspiracy going with Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin) over at PanAmerican Airlines. Cate Blanchett is distracting at first as Katherine Hepburn (am I supposed to bold that name, cuz it’s an actress, but like a character too? Damn TheCinemaSource and their formatting rules), but Blanchett ends up pulling off a phenomenal performance. John C. Reilly plays Hughes’ accountant, and that’s about it. I mean yes, Kate Beckinsale, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, Edward Herrmann, Gwen Stefani, Brent Spiner and Ian Holm are in the movie, but I think they’re more novelty items. Especially Jude Law and Gwen Stefani. As perfect as they were casting choices, I think combined they have a screentime of maybe 8 minutes. I think Martin Scorcese randomly throws some of these characters back into the movie for a non-dialogue background scene every once in awhile just to say “I swear, these aren’t throwaway characters.” By the time ...