Review of The Aviator (2004) by Stuart K — 17 Jan 2012

After the long and troubled production of Gangs of New York (2002), Martin Scorsese could have opted for a smaller film, but he didn't, he went for another historical epic, this time about one of the greatest business magnates of the 20th century, who also happened to make films and fly planes.

It's less messy than Scorsese's last film, and it also has a great cast. Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), starts off using his families fortune from the Hughes Tool Company to make films, including Hell's Angels (1930), which takes 3 years to make, and all of it is reshot when talkies become the norm, and he becomes romantically involved with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett).

But, his main passion is aviation, and he even buys small airline, Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA), but he soon faces competition from Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin), chairman of Pan American Airlines, who gets Senator Owen Brewster (Alan Alda), to introduce a bill that would give Pan Am the monopoly on American air travel.

Plus, Hughes' behaviour, mostly down to obsessive-compulsive disorder, alienates him from the outside world, plus a near fatal plane crash in Beverly Hills in 1946 worsens him. It's a good biopic spanning 20 years, and showing how he went from a bright young innovator into a unstable and uncomfortable eccentric.

Leo gives a good performance, showing maturity and confidence as Hughes, and Scorsese captures the era well with colour and scale, and a cast including Jude Law, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Danny Huston and Ian Holm.