It may not be his best, but it's damn good

Rating: 7/10 (17 February 2005)

Despite its many Oscar nominations, I hadn't heard a lot of great things about the film prior to seeing it. That is why I was very pleasantly surprised when, while watching "The Aviator" I was met with what I feel is a truly great film. There are so many things involving the film that could be construed as personal negatives for me: (and more about most of these later in the review) I am not a DiCaprio fan, though I do recognize his talent, I can't stand Kate Beckinsale, and frankly, a 3 hour biopic on someone like Howard Hughes is not a very compelling subject for me. What got me into the theater was that it was a Best Picture contender and ultimately, it is a Martin Scorcese film. I was recently criticized as someone who would only dislike a film by a director I appreciate and follow if it was sheer crap, basically suggesting that I am such a fan girl that I can't discern whether something is good or not, simply because I may idolize a particular director. This is categorically untrue, but a good test of this would have been "The Aviator". I am a Martin Scorcese fanatic, and though I have not seen his entire filmography, there are certainly some films I like better than others. "The Aviator" was a film that I was afraid was going to be in the "others" category, but more importantly, I was afraid that it was going to be nothing more than mediocre, and that Scorcese who is LONG overdue for an Oscar (one of the only things that keeps this in check is that neither Kubrick nor Hitchcock won one either) was going to finally win recognition from the Academy based on his work for this film. About an hour into the picture, however, my fears were assuaged because "The Aviator" is truly a great film.
Scorcese's direction is brilliant; he captures the spirit of the time, from the vibrant colors to the lush costumes, to the garish and (almost scary) club performers. "The Aviator" is as close to an epic as one can get without donning a gladiator helmet or parting the Red Sea. Scorcese messed with some special effects in "The Aviator", something that he hasn't played with too often. One scene in particular, where he is in a plane filming scenes for his film "Hells Angels" is absolutely breathtaking. The sets in "The Aviator" were huge, the party and premiere scenes were electrifying, and the cast (literally a cast of hundreds, if not thousands) was headlined by some good actors. DiCaprio really was fantastic as Hughes; physically, he didn't seem to embody Hughes until his later years, but I personally don't consider that to be a necessity  look at Hopkins in "Nixon"; he looked nothing like the man, but his mannerisms spoke volumes. Particularly when DiCaprio was able to chew some scenery during scenes involving Hughes' mental breakdowns, I felt that he not only didn't overact, but he solicited a distinct air of sympathy for the character. (Except for the few people around me who found his episodes humorous, apparently.) "The Aviator" is headed by a great actor, and features many excellent performances by supporting actors, but the real standout for me was Cate Blanchett in the role of Katherine Hepburn. Having been a lifelong fan of Hepburn's (particularly of her early work) it took about a minute of Blanchett's performance for me exclaim, "She's fantastic!" Contrary to an opinion of one of my fellow theater attendees, Blanchett doesn't just mimic Hepburn, she literally becomes her. If she doesn't win the Oscar for this role (after having been so deserving for her role in "Elizabeth" as well) I will be shocked and dismayed.
Of course, there are no perfect films, and "The Aviator" is far from perfect. I have never been a fan of the vintage-sounding nasal voiced narrator who appears to be reading items for a news brief on the radio, and Scorcese uses this a lot in the film. By about the third use (out of about 30 uses) I was getting pretty irritated. Though I realize that this is a pretty standard technique in period pieces, it still is annoying and derivative. I also was particularly dismayed by Beckinsale's depiction of Ava Gardner. Beckinsale, who is a homogenous and mediocre (at best) actress in the first place, managed to mess up her really small role by giving Gardner a weird Hungarian sounding accent. Perhaps I am not fully schooled in Ava Gardner's history, but I don't recall her sounding like one of the brides of Dracula. If I'm wrong about Gardner, I'll be happy to retract that criticism, but the performance was still lackluster.
Sure, Scorcese should have won the Oscar for "Raging Bull". Probably for "Goodfellas" as well. But as easy as it is to want to give someone an Oscar based on their past offerings, it isn't fair to that person or their peers if this occurs. (It would be like if Kubrick got an Oscar for "Eyes Wide Shut".) Thankfully, "The Aviator" is deserving on its own, and if Scorcese gets the statue (finally) he will have earned it fair and square. "The Aviator" is a long film, but with its great pacing, it didn't seem like it. I give the film a very solid 7/10, possibly subject to change if the film holds up in the ensuing years.
--Shelly