Low Altitude

Just before Martin Scorsese "finally won his Oscar" for The Departed (and that was a fine movie indeed), critics were speculating if he'd score with The Aviator, his biopic about Howard Hughes. Having now watched the film for myself, my opinion is that he never had a chance.

But I do find it an odd thing to try and evaluate this movie. The thing is, the film does a pretty great job of capturing all aspects of Howard Hughes. It shows parts of his life spread over nearly 20 years, covering his passion for building airplanes, his thirst to set aviation records in the cockpit himself, his risky business ventures, his irrational film-making as a writer and director, his dating of Hollywood starlets, and his collapse into an eccentric recluse due to obsessive–compulsive disorder. That's more than a feast, hitting almost everything but the point in his life where he shut himself in the penthouse of a Las Vegas hotel.

See, it's accurate to say that Howard Hughes was a man of myriad facets, meandering and impossible to pin down. Unfortunately, in faithfully portraying that, the result is a movie that isn't about any one thing, that meanders and never settles down into a single coherent narrative. I mean, the title itself shows up this flaw; it's called "The Aviator," but I'd estimate that almost half of the nearly three-hour movie has nothing to do with aviation.

So, while I can appreciate the storytelling technique here and say "yep, that's the way you ought to tell Howard Hughes' story," the fact remains that I found the movie boring and aimless. It's a collection of "episodes" with no real narrative. And I guess I want even a biography movie to make a point, a point deeper than "look at this crazy guy!"

It doesn't help that I felt Leonardo DiCaprio wasn't really up to playing the part. He's never really struck me as an actor with a great range, and throw his relatively unchanging looks into the mix, and he can't credibly embody Hughes over such a wide period of time. Early scenes work well, but as Hughes ages and gets crazier over literally decades, DiCaprio look and acts almost exactly the same.

Cate Blanchett, on the other hand, is a powerhouse as Katharine Hepburn. Not only does she give a wonderful impersonation of the famous actress' voice and mannerisms, but she portrays a believable, nuanced person at the same time. It's a shame there isn't more of her in the movie, because she's delightful whenever she's on screen.

I'm glad Scorsese kept trying, because this film just didn't do it for me. I give it a D+.