Big Disappointment - Don't believe the hype

Rating: 9/10 (16 January 2005)

This film is a big disappointment considering the first rate director, cast and crew. It is an over rated and over hyped grandstanding of a big name, Howard Hughes. What is it with great directors when they get a little too successful? They seem to throw away all the good film-making traits that made them great. The problem is the story - there isn't one. But, gee, the cinematography is so pretty, isn't it. This screenplay is pretty much a rip off of Charlie Kauffman's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Confessions was ten times better than The Aviator. Now that is how a biography should be filmed. There is no clear story in the Aviator. Of course, this is common for true stories when you want to avoid unnecessary dramatization. But, you would think a genius like Scorsese would pull it off. He does well with keeping things moving for three hours - but the story is lacking. Then again, that may be a Scorsese style. But, it doesn't work here. There was a great opportunity to play with Hughes' psychosis, much like Clooney and Kauffman did in Confessions, and Scorsese made a feeble attempt at it here. But, he gets off track and the psychosis is lost as a very small subplot - even an after thought. The result is a story line that goes all over the place and stays with nothing for very long. Well, that's my first impression, anyway.
Nonetheless, despite my rant here, I find this an excellent film. It is compelling. Maybe it's because we know it's based on a real person's life. There's something compelling about stories based on true events. After seeimg this film numerous times over, I added this paragraph instead of retracting my initial statement. Usiually seeing a film over and over makes you tired of seeing it. But this one grows on you. Yes, the Hollywood marketing hype played up the film, which seemed like a lot of hype itself, probably because it's about Hollywood and larger than life characters. So, I don't blame my initial disappointment on Scorsese od DiCapprio. They did a fine job of reflecting what Hughes and his world were all about. It's the reality itself that's somewhat disappointing I guess. That's the trouble with reality. It's just not dramatically focused enough.