Milking Eccentricity

Rating: 5/10 (24 August 2005)

Okay, I admit it. I watched all 170 minutes of The Aviator, although it took me two nights to do it. I liked the film enough to keep watching, but not enough to give it a rave review. Leonardo does an excellent job of portraying this larger-than-legendary man, even if he looks a bit too young for too much of the film. Cate Blanchett was, as so many have said, exquisite as the inimitable Katherine Hepburn. At several points, I got lost in the time-line of Howard Hughes' life. For example, I couldn't tell if his relationship with Hepburn lasted months or years. In the scene where he goes wacko in his screening room, I didn't know if that was days, weeks, or months, or whether he's still holed up there today. (Of course I have since learned that he is dead, but I guess that part will be covered in the sequel.) While it was useful to see how his character deteriorates into a state of verbal tics and OCD hell, I found it somewhat unbelievable that he could testify at a Congressional hearing with such clarity only days (if I got that time-line straight) after an apparent psychiatric episode. The costumes and special effects are superb, but as for the plot, I felt something was missing. Who was that milked man?