Review of The Aviator (2004) by Grant S — 08 Jul 2016

The life of Howard Hughes: film director and producer, aircraft designer and airline owner. A pioneer in all these fields he was a man who had a massive influence on aeronautical advancement, the airline industry and the aviation industry in general plus gave the world some movies which helped the progression of that art form (in particular, Hell's Angels, Scarface and The Outlaw). Not content with being a highly successful and wealthy businessman, leading aircraft designer and movie mogul he even test flew his own aircraft! His private life was equally epic, having long-term relationships with Katharine Hepburn and Ava Gardner and dating almost every female star in Hollywood at some stage. But he wasn't without his faults, eccentricities and demons, and these are explored here too.

A fantastic study of an incredible life. Master-director Martin Scorsese turns a linear biopic into an incredibly engaging, enthralling and illuminating journey. Despite being over 160 minutes long the time flies by, such is the pace, energy and interest of the movie. Hughes was a larger-than-life character and incredibly influential person on history and Scorsese shows him the respect he deserves.

Not that he paints him as a saint though. He is portrayed as reckless at times and, as mentioned, his personal issues are also covered, and they are covered well. We see how his eccentricities and disorders - germaphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder plus potentially other mental issues - have a large bearing on his life and work. We also see how he manages to go on despite these. Very sensitively and appropriately covered by Scorsese.

Superb performance by Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role. The movie got him his second Oscar nomination, and first for a leading role, and he was unlucky to lose out, having to compete with a brilliant performance by Jamie Foxx in Ray.

Cate Blanchett is superb as Katharine Hepburn and well deserved her Best Supporting Actress Oscar (her first Oscar and her second nomination). Alan Alda got a Best Supporting Actor nomination for playing Senator Brewster.

The remainder of the cast is star-studded too: John C Reilly, Kate Beckinsale (as Ava Gardner), Alec Baldwin, Jude Law (as Errol Flynn), Ian Holm, Danny Huston. Even the minor parts include Gwen Stefani (as Jean Harlow) and Willem Defoe and the musical numbers include Loudon Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright!

A masterpiece.