A truly smashing, psychologically bound blockbuster

Rating: 10/10 (31 December 2004)

Martin Scorsese strikes again with a powerful cast and expert crew, but the subject matter is what really got me into the grip of The Aviator. Scorsese and writer John Logan focus, of course, on the prime of the life of Howard Hughes, a kind of c.f. Kane with airplanes and movies substituting for the newspapers. While Scorsese dives right into his technical mastery, Logan dives into the private life of Hughes as well as the public. As a kind of 'golden-age of Hollywood' production the film hearkens back to the greatness from the old days, but also taking on a subject that is a tough one to take on- Hughes' obsessive compulsive nature. On the outside to the public he does go like this to a degree- spending millions on his air epic Hell's Angels, going past the limit of what to spend on planes for the second world war (and "the Hercules" which the press dubbed the "Spruce Goose"), and with women. But on the inside, he gradually became a full-blown germaphobe, repeating words, and locking himself in a room at one point and not coming out (this would later be what many remembered him for, the notoriously reclusive Billionair hermit of the 20th century).
With Scorsese's outstanding cinematographer Robert Richardson, experimenting with different touches of light and composition, and with his veteran editor Thelma Schoonmaker (partly responsible for the immediately recognizable pace and style in Scorsese's films), they get into the mind of someone like Hughes better than any other film I may have ever seen. It's often kinetic, focusing on the smallest things, and going (appropriately) sometimes like an Olver Stone film. Although Gangs of New York, Scorsese's previous epic, contained a good pace, I may have not seen one as intense and effective since Casino. Adding to this is Dante Ferreti, one of the greatest of all production designers, giving life to all of the locations in the film.
Most surprising, and satisfying, is that the acting is better than expected, or at least topping expectations. Di Caprio, who was the originator of bringing Hughes' life to the screen (he also has an executive producer credit), dashes off any minor doubts I had that he could pull it off. He can be a superb actor, engaging fully a character (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Gangs, and Basketball Diaries being good examples), and sometimes not (Titanic, Catch Me if You Can). This time, he hits it right on the head, giving (though it's never a big deal for me who wins or loses) an Oscar caliber performance. By the time the story and Hughes swing deeper into his disease, before and following a tragic, heart-racing plane accident, he finds all of the touches to make Hughes believable, flaws and all. It certainly is, along with it being the convincing take on o.c.d. technically, the finest portrayal of someone with it. But even greater is that he finds the notes when with his co-stars.
There is Cate Blanchett (as if not more terrific than Di Caprio) as Katherine Hepburn, Hughes' love interest for about ten years. Something of an eccentric character herself, but also very down to earth, Blanchett doesn't skip a beat in finding her own voice within the star. There are also parts like John C. Reilly, Hughes' financial adviser (and part father-figure), Alan Alda, a senator who brings Hughes forward to be questioned in a public committee, Alec Baldwin as Hughes' 'foe' Juan Trippe, and so on. Even for an actress like Kate Beckinsale, who I feared would be hardly worthy to fill a role like Ava Gardner, the environment Scorsese gives to them is very natural considering the Hollywood backdrop.
It's always tricky calling one film the best of the year. Many other films that came out this year were big contenders for such a somewhat pretentious title. It could be appropriate for one to say that The Aviator, while not one of Scorsese's best, is one of the best Hollywood productions of the year. At the least, if only from my perspective, it delivers a Scorsese film where he takes a risk at a subject he doesn't know too much about (aviation, though he didn't know much about boxing either for Raging Bull) and runs with the people in the film, reaching for a height some might feel he can't really take. A+