Review of Amelia (2009) by Jonathan M — 12 Jun 2010
This film needed to dig deeper and give us more character development and history of Amelia Earhart. It needed some spice, some more meat into her disappearance. Instead what we get is one of the more boring bio-pics that I have ever seen.
Hilary Swank was good but her performance was wasted with the overall content from script to other actors to direction. Also, the one place she fails is in her interaction with Richard Gere, whose character marries Earhart.
Their marriage comes across more like a business partnership than an actual loving relationship. And the chemistry between Gere and Swank is rather weak. Also, the affair between Swank and Ewan McGregor just comes across as phony, almost pushed upon the audience.
The cinematography was pretty good and the sequences with her flying were done rather well. But what should have been a dramatic finish to the movie with her vanishing comes across as very anti-climatic.
Yes, I know the story of what happened and the results of flight but you can still make it interesting. In Apollo 13, we knew the end result, yet that movie provided serious drama as it unfolded. If only "Amelia" could have tapped into that direction and screenplay.
Another question to ask: how can you make a bio-pic on such a dynamic and historic figure and have it only be two hours long? This easily should have been two and a half hours, if it was done properly.
Overall, aside from the great scenery and the flying scenes, this film is a disappointment. It should have been so much more, plain and simple. Which is exactly what this movie is.
This review of Amelia (2009) was written by Jonathan M on 12 Jun 2010.
Amelia has generally received mixed reviews.
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