Epic craziness.

Rating: 7/10 (6 December 2011)

Crafting a biopic about Howard Hughes is like running downhill - no more interesting and complex personage graced the 20th century and perhaps with the exception of Ben Franklin and maybe Abraham Lincoln maybe all of United States history. The challenge Martin Scorsese faced involved mostly keeping the fascinating stories about Hughes to just the film's 170 minute running time. Scorsese holds the movie to under 3 hours by focusing only on Hughes' establishment of TWA and Hughes Aircraft and his film production career. Although this period probably covers the most cinematic of Hughes' adventures it does miss his rise to become the biggest employer in Nevada, stints living in London, South America and finally the Caribbean. It also only covers just the early days of his madness which progresses to a far more debilitating stage later in his life. Leonard DiCaprio delves into this madness and the Hughes' genius delivering a convincing and compelling role. He never quite loses himself in the role in the way Charlize Theron could no longer be discerned in her performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos - we always see DiCaprio behind the character. DiCaprio appears in nearly every shot but he receives the support of some excellent casting choices including Cate Blanchett , who took home an Oscar for the performance and the highly underutilized Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda and John C. Reilly. The editing of their work under can be choppy at times particularly in the beginning where titles describing the action and timeframe become necessary to keep things straight. However, once the film settles into more linear storytelling and its focus on Hughes' romance of Katharine Hepburn the nearly three hour run time moves as smoothly and quickly as one of Hughes' more successful aircraft designs. In short, the excellence of "The Aviator" and the genius and psychosis of its subject invite a sequel from Scorsese.