The Aviator
- Dees Movie Review -
I have to admit that I had my doubts going in. It seemed to me a horrible case of miscasting. Could a gregarious, eccentric, and hyper-masculine captain of industry be portrayed by the only Hollywood mega-star who could also play a 15-year-old boy in perpetuity? I could see from the trailers that Scorsese had stapled a pencil thin mustache to Leo’s prepubescent mug to sell the whole illusion. It called to mind the make-up treatment from a junior high rendition of ‘Our Town.’ Combine all that with the two hours plus sitting time, and Alec Baldwin’s bulbous head, and I figured I’d be headed across the movie house to catch the last 45 minutes of ‘Fat Albert.’
I ate my expectations. Scorsese has great credibility when it comes to the biopic (Think ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Casino’) and he showed why here. ‘Aviator’ is old-school silver-screen story-telling at its best. It’s nice to see that with a Scorsese at the helm, and with a good script, completely free of CGI characters, one can still be entertained (although the groundlings continue to ignore this film).
What is more, DiCaprio delivered, without question, the finest performance of his career. (‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ anyone?) Many times, especially those scenes wherein Hughes flexes his renowned charm, I found myself sitting with a broad smile, and DiCaprio deserves nearly all the credit for the magnetism of those scenes.
Scorsese, does all the little things, so often fumbled by his peers, flawlessly. The pacing of the film is even and brisk, such that the long running-time evaporates. Washing out the color palette in favor of a single chromatic tone is old news (recall the green of ‘Saving Private Ryan’). Scorsese washes out the color here as well, but creatively in favor of reds and browns, giving the entire film the surreal look of an old news reel. The effect works. The subject matter clearly created great challenges in cinematography, calling for sprawling dogfights and intimate dinner parties within a few minutes of each other. Scorsese managed to shoot and edit them all together into a single visual fabric such that the audience scarcely notices the transitions.
The players impress across the board. As Hughes, DiCaprio effectively portrays a hard-charging unbending business leader and insatiable playboy, but at the same time caters to his character’s crippling mental illness, which dominates a great part of the plot. Striking a balance between such extremes is seemingly impossible, but DiCaprio does it as good as anyone ever could. Cate Blanchett is spot-on as Katherine Hepburn. Her performance is certainly good enough to garner supporting actress honors. She plays Hepburn just on the proper side of cartoonish but manages to retain her love-interest appeal. Perhaps with equal skill, the painfully fetching Kate Beckinsale owns the frame as Hughes’ guardian angel and part-time lover, Ava Gardner, and does so while limited by sparse and broken screen time.
I would be remiss if I did not praise Scorsese’s surprising inclusion of a scene wherein Hughes visits the Hepburn summer home located at a cape or a cod of some sort. The Hepburns lead a self-congratulatory bohemian lifestyle and wax political about the genius of New Deal policies. Scorsese reveals how shallow, obtuse, deluded, and really exclusive the entire liberal-elite is, as they sit in their cushy summer mansions and talk about how unimportant money is to them. Further, Scorsese does not shy away from depicting their indifference to anything or anyone that adds real value to society, such as, for example, an innovative and ambitious industrialist. If only Marty had had Pesci come in and beat a Hepburn with an aluminum bat, I would have started the wave.
Many of the hub-bub films of 2004 were dogs—dogs with fleas—dogs with fleas that Oliver Stone directed. But this one delivered on its buzz. Go see it. Have a Diet Slice. Complain if it doesn’t get an Oscar for at least one major category.
Kevin Dees at 12:52 am
Entertaining review. Very good movie. The scene you mention at the Hepburn summer home was a revealing commentary on rich liberals not often seen in contemporary films.
LMAO…”If only Marty had had Pesci come in and beat a Hepburn with an aluminum bat, I would have started the wave.”
Comment by Charles Martell — January 21, 2005 @ 10:07 am
What an excellent debut article by our newest contributor, movie columnist Kevin Dees. We’re happy to welcome Kevin aboard at Slowplay.com!
Comment by Nathan J. Novak — January 21, 2005 @ 11:36 am
I don’t know. I guess I thought The Aviator was overrated claptrap, especially compared with Scorsese’s truly great movies.
But the point about Hepburn’s family is well taken.
Comment by Dave — January 21, 2005 @ 8:57 pm
V good review- the wave of the future. I’d like to take you out sometime, Mr. Dees. We’ll see some Ibsen… if the Republicans haven’t outlawed him by now. You’re not a Republican, are you? I’ll be in touch as soon as the weather clears, and we’re out of q-u-a-r-a-n-t-i-n-e. Don’t be scared.
Comment by L — January 22, 2005 @ 8:31 pm
Did someone give you a book of adjectives for Christmas? Your reviews were neither compelling or amounting to much more than your command of the native tongue. Surely you can do better. Can’t you?
Comment by Anonymous — February 5, 2005 @ 6:08 pm