Review of Amelia (2009) by Billz. — 24 Oct 2009
I saw the film on its opening night and found a very small audience, mostly made up of seniors who I presume at least know the background to the story. Negative reviews have crippled the film and will likely result in its early demise at the boxoffice.
Like most critical reviews of Amelia, reviewers have "dogpiled" on without a clear indication of why the film failed. Amelia is not an epic nor is it the complete failure that has been described in numerous publications.
The standard format of a Hollywood biopic is what many reviewers have disdainfully denigrated. Recounting a life with factual rather than fanciful or unsubstantiated accounts, has doomed the film in many reviews.
The mystique and mystery of her life is difficult to distill in a film, but judging by the historians and researchers that have chronicled the Earhart saga, Amelia provides an authentic and authoritative depiction of the last decade of her life.
What was missing is the understanding by reputedly astute observers of the iconic status of a feminist, daring adventurer and one of the first of the international celebrities of Aviation's Golden Age.
Amelia recreates the period faithfully and despite the slice-and-dice studio editing that left key sequences on the cutting room floor (Virginia Madsen's role as George P. Putnam's wife was entirely eliminated), provides the viewer with a glimpse into Amelia Earhart that most modern audiences would not wholly appreciate, yet would be evocative of the most famous aviatrix of all time.
This review of Amelia (2009) was written by Billz. on 24 Oct 2009.
Amelia has generally received mixed reviews.
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