The Aviator (2004)

Rating: 9/10 (16 August 2019)

Directed by Martin Scorsese. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilly, Alan Alda, Alec Baldwin, Matt Ross, Adam Scott, Kate Beckinsale, Danny Huston, Ian Holm, Kelli Garner, Jude Law. (PG-13)
Extravagant biopic on the life of Howard Hughes (about twenty years worth, anyway): aviation trailblazer, Hollywood director, womanizer of Tinseltown starlets, and eventual obsessive-compulsive recluse. Scorsese proves again his mastery of filmmaking technique and storytelling, crafting a sensationally vast and detailed world (with the help of superb talents like editor Thelma Schoonmacher, director of photography Robert Richardson, art designer Dante Ferretti, and many more) and using plenty of the ol' "movie magic" to make the presentation stylized yet remarkably authentic (even employing recreations of two-strip and three-strip Technicolor to represent different periods). However, unlike most of Scorcese's other rich central-figure character studies (from Jake LaMotta to Jesus Christ), there doesn't seem to be a prevailing thesis or attitude to the subject; should Hughes be admired, pitied, scorned, championed, etc.? The cast, populated by many famous faces in roles both small and large, rarely disappoints; it was DiCaprio's best work since "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," and aside from coming off a bit cartoonish during her early golf game scene, Blanchett is just about perfect as Katharine Hepburn (and won her first Oscar for it).
89/100