Don't miss it!

Rating: 9/10 (26 January 2005)

This is a fabulous movie! The story of the rise and fall of the mega-rich Howard Hughes is told with a sure touch, and can be enjoyed even if you know nothing about him (and despite any alleged artistic licence with 'the facts').
The acting is superb throughout. Leonardo Di Caprio turns in an accomplished and mature performance, possibly his best yet. His depiction of Hughes' gradual physical and mental decline is deftly handled, neither lurid nor sentimental. Other notable performances come from Cate Blanchett, playing the peppery Katharine Hepburn, Kate Beckinsale, stunning as Ava Gardner, Alan Alda, as the wily Senator, and Al Dubois (?) as the smoothly mannered but ruthless chief of PanAm Airways.
The period settings are wonderfully evocative (the cars, the clothes, the interiors, the street scenes) and the aircraft (WW1 biplanes, an experimental spy plane, the Spruce Goose) are fantastic (if suspiciously lacking in noise and vibration for the interior shots).The scenes of Hughes' crash-landing are both terrifying and spectacular without being an SFX-fest.
To cap all this, the music is tremendous - pre-war ballads, jazz, big-band numbers and, if you stay until the final credits, a blues performance by Leadbelly.
My partner approached this movie with no interest in Howard Hughes nor aviation. But, like me, she was knocked out by the quality and entertainment value of this film. So don't miss it!