Great Man, Good Movie

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2005)

Greetings again from the darkness. Having read quite a bit about Howard Hughes and having some of my most memorable movie experiences be from the eye of Martin Scorcese, I was most anxious for the release of the film. This may however be one of the few times when Mr. Scorcese actually underplays the importance and legend of a character. The movie is wonderful (typcially breath-taking Scorcese visuals), but falls short of being great, in part because Leonardo DiCaprio is not able to capture the presence of Hughes the man. The look and mannerisms are fine, but we never experience that feeling of greatness that so many talk about when discussing what it was like to be around the man. Some artistic license was taken with Hughes' withdrawal after the near fatal plane crash. Scorcese draws on what he became later to show that the head injury was the beginning of the fall for this very brilliant, tormented man. As usual, Scorcese provides a stellar supporting cast including Alan Alda, Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Riley, Jude Law and Gwen Stefani. Baldwin's "meeting" with Hughes held with a door between them is a riveting Baldwin performance similar to "Glengarry Glen Ross". John C. Riley perfectly captures the puppy dog loyalty of Noah Dietrich, but the performance that jumps off the screen is Blanchett as Kate Hepburn. I truly believe these two were soul mates who understood each other, but were misunderstood by most everyone else. Hepburn's independent boldness was way ahead of her time. Overall, the movie captures Hughes at the most creative point in his life and does an admirable job, just not great.