A Nutshell Review: The Aviator

Rating: 10/10 (8 January 2005)

This almost 3 hour bio-epic of Howard Hughes, the second collaborative film between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio (the first being Gangs of New York), may seem as mammoth as the sproose goose, but with excellent casting, acting, sets and pacing, you'd be clammering for it to continue as it barely scratches the surface of Hughes eventful life, as director, aviator and visionary.
Squeezed into the film are so many themes and subplots, it makes you eager to want to learn more about this fascinating icon, in addition to the Early Hollywood to post-WWII era covered.
Hollywood - this is at its earliest, with classic screen legends brought to life again. The first 15 minutes of the film lets you into the production of Hughes' Hell's Angels, and other classics of his like Scarface and The Outlaw were covered, with the latter's friction with the censorship board on mammaries bringing huge doses of humour. Also, look out for Jude Law's Errol Flynn! Romance - between Katharine Hepburn, played so perfectly by Cate Blanchett, and Kate Beckinsale's Ava Gardner, who teases and asks Hughes of nothing more than buying her dinner. Minor love relations are briefly mentioned, or given the "Tabloid Treatment".
The Aviator - Hughes designs, builds and then test flies his own planes. We get to see him being the fastest man on earth, circling the globe, critically crashing his Air Force's spy plane prototype, and piloting his crowning glory, C-130's granddaddy Hercules.
Corporate Business - Business is war, between Hughes' WTA and Alec Baldwin's PanAm. Watch how they scheme against each other for the battle of the skies! Corruption - Politics and money don't mix... or do they? We get a sneak peek into the corruption and bribery of the early days. Oops, or should I say, generous donations? Excessive Compulsive Disorder - Hughes suffers from ECD, and is obsessive with cleanliness. He uses his own bar soap in public loos, doesn't stand anything raw, or the tiniest speck of dirt on anyone else's shirt. We see the disorder zapping his of his sanity, and he declines into living in filth (the irony of it) and stark naked in his projection room, suffering from the disorder at its worst, before Ava plucks him out of his rut.
I have to admit I ain't much of a Martin Scorsese fan, till now. I haven't watched Goodfellas, and my recent memory of Scorsese is Gangs of NY, and the lending of his voice for the blowfish in Shark's Tale. Here, he masterfully mixes and weaves the themes together into one long compelling narrative.
I have always been a fan of Leo DiCaprio's acting abilities, from What's Eating Gilbert Gabe, to spouting Shakespeare in Bahz Luhman's R+J. This is yet another occasion where he plays someone real and does one heck of a job.
This show has something for everybody, is Oscar worthy, so don't miss it. Now I gotta hit the stores to get one of his biographies...