Review: The Aviator

Biopic of Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), going from the 20s to the early 40s, charting his ambitious early exploits in his inherited aviation business and his visions to enter the film industry, and eventually his long battles with mental illness. In between we also see his relationships with movie stars Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett), Faith Domergue (Kelli Garner) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale). Alan Alda plays a Senator in league with Howard’s aviation rival Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin). Willem Dafoe plays a member of the press, and Jude Law plays randy movie star Errol Flynn.

The maturation of Leonardo DiCaprio can really be seen in this enjoyable, great-looking 2004 Martin Scorsese (“Raging Bull”, “Goodfellas”, “Hugo”) biopic of famed aviation tycoon and occasional filmmaker Howard Hughes. Hell, once he dons the moustache in the later portion of the film he even looks quite like the man, and one has no problems accepting him as the younger, ambitious, and energetic Hughes. Typical for Scorsese the production values are immaculate and as scripted by John Logan (“Sweeney Todd”, “Hugo”, “Rango”) the story is irresistible for both history buffs and film buffs like me. So long as you can handle the length, I’d imagine most audiences would at least get something out of this. Like the director’s later (and beautiful) “Hugo”, this was clearly a labour of love for noted cinephile Scorsese and I really like it too.

The Oscar-winning cinematography by Robert Richardson (“Platoon”, “JFK”, “Bringing Out the Dead”, “Hugo”) is truly gorgeous especially up in the air, and there’s an excellent “Citizen Kane”-esque use of low angles in Alec Baldwin’s first scene. You can always tell when Scorsese truly has his heart and soul and passion in something. Watch this, “Mean Streets”, “Goodfellas”, “Gangs of New York”, and “Hugo”…and then watch the unnecessarily overdone remake of “Cape Fear” or the histrionic and empty “Shutter Island”. Big difference in investment and result. It’s interesting to see Hughes combine his knowledge from the family aviation business with filmmaking for his gigantic epic “Hell’s Angels”. Meanwhile, his debilitating OCD issue is evident from even during this period as he works tirelessly, uses a superfluous 14 cameras to film way too much footage and takes years to bring it all together. This guy was always set for a massive mental breakdown, and it’s an excellent depiction of an illness gone unchecked. Yes, it probably played out more subtly in real life, but here it serves to make you uncomfortable and a little embarrassed for Hughes. I think that is best done by heightening it a little. It’s not often a film will have a bathroom scene full of tension (“Lethal Weapon 2” and “Psycho” spring to mind though), but this film has such a scene with Hughes, and it doesn’t involve anticipating a bowel movement. I loved Leo’s performances in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”, “This Boy’s Life”, and “Blood Diamond” but I think this might be my favourite performance of his up until his Oscar-winning turn in “The Revenant”.

DiCaprio is backed up by a mostly excellent supporting cast, especially an Oscar-winning Cate Blanchett playing Katharine Hepburn. Seeing the film again I can be a little more critical in that Blanchett looks nothing like Hepburn, and although she makes a jolly good stab at it, co-star Frances Conroy probably sounds more like the inimitable actress than does Blanchett. What Blanchett does however is more important, giving us a fully-rounded (if somewhat showy) performance rather than mere imitation. She’s clearly having fun, gets the cadence and accent down at least, if not the precise voice overall. Alan Alda is really good too, but let’s face it…he got an Oscar nomination for his overall body of work. Still, it’s amazing that such a likeable guy (in interviews he comes across very amiably) can play such a sleaze as the one he plays here. Adam Scott gives his best performance to date as Howard’s press agent Johnny Mayer, Sir Ian Holm is hilarious as an exasperated meteorologist, and John C. Reilly is well-cast as Howard’s right-hand man and financial adviser Noah Dietrich. Alec Baldwin once again shows how much better he is in character turns in support rather than leads, playing Hughes’ main aviation rival very solidly.

Those playing familiar faces in support are a mixed bag, with Jude Law scoring, perfectly cast in a fun cameo as swashbuckler and pants man Errol Flynn even if he’s not the best physical likeness. Stanley DeSantis also fares well as Louis B. Mayer, the late Edward Herrmann is amusing as old fusspot censor Joseph Breen, and singer Gwen Stefani is acceptable as starlet Jean Harlow. Kelli Garner and Kate Beckinsale are less acceptable as Faith Domergue and the very well-known Ava Gardner. For Beckinsale, her tiny eyes are all wrong, and with Gardner the eyes and eyebrows were everything. She also neither sounds nor convincingly inhabits the persona of Gardner. A bit of a mistake in casting on Scorsese’s part there. The film’s not all doom and gloom. In addition to Holm’s amusing performance, there’s a funny little bit where Hughes applies aviation design theory towards an issue with Jane Russell’s pointy mammaries.

Aside from the occasional casting misfire in support, length is really the only issue here, perhaps ironically and perhaps even unavoidably. It’s not a great film, but like “Gangs of New York” and “Hugo”, it’s a really good one (and probably the best of the three).

Rating: B