Beautiful, Expensive and Without Heart

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 2005)

I do not know the biography of Howard Hughes, and the magnificent "Scarface"is the unique movie of his filmography that I have watched. By the number of nominations of "The Aviator", the minimum that I could expect would be to know a little about the biography of this American businessman. Unfortunately, the great director Martin Scorcese made a beautiful expensive movie, typically aiming to win the Oscar, but emotionally very shallow and with a very weak screenplay, with many parts very similar to a big soap-opera. After 170 minutes running time, I am not sure whether Howard Hughes was a genius, or a psychotic irresponsible prodigal millionaire born in silver spoon. Leonardo DiCaprio, in my opinion, was miscast with his baby-face in the role of Howard Hughes. The cast is excellent, and the production is outstanding, but in the end I was not fully satisfied with this film. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "O Aviador" ("The Aviator")