Review of The Aviator (2004) by Phil H — 03 Sep 2011

Roll up roll up...Scorsese's second big historical epic, this time recounting the life of tycoon Howard Hughes from the 1920's to 1947. Again Scorsese uses DiCaprio for his main role yet for once I think we see the best of DiCaprio in probably his finest performance so far.

The film is epic in cinematography as well as casting and direction with every frame highly detailed and given amazing depth with the score.  Every scene and every shot looks perfect and seems to have been done with painful attention to accuracy and setup, the clothes the cast wear to the amazing sets are all beautifully done whilst the story of Hughes life is handled with care and includes a large range of big names from both show business and the financial world, I'm unsure if its all accurate but it damn well seems like it when watching.

A long film yes but it doesn't feel like it as there is so much going on throughout the film with so many people popping in and out of Hughes life, along with his personal conquests, that you find yourself wondering about what all these other people did and what happened to them, it makes you wanna read up on the whole history of it all. Its also really interesting to see many Hollywood legends portrayed by modern day stars and I was impressed at the levels of dedication shown, Blanchett, Beckinsale and a small cameo by Jude Law as Errol Flynn were all superbly done, especially Blanchett who clearly spend allot of time nailing Hepburn. DiCaprio is the star of this piece though for sure with a brilliant performance as Hughes that almost became annoying as he portrayed Hughes' compulsive disorder to nerve jangling levels, started to make you twitch watching him do it haha Can't forget about the amazing costume department though and their work, everyone looked so good in their duds, faultless right down to the massive amount of extras in many scenes.

From the creation of his epic 'Hell's Angels' to the obsessive and devoted creation of his aircraft through to the courtroom drama's between himself, Trippe and Senator Brewster to the finale and his flying of the Hercules 'airboat'.....this film is never dull even though I really thought it would be hehe probably one of the most accurate period films I've seen and a surprise from Scorsese really.