Marvelous.

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2008)

When it comes to film, my love is primarily focused on two things. I can be swayed and amazed by brilliant metaphors and symbolisms and fantastic technical aspects, but a film is nothing to me without two key ingredients. First, I need power in the performances. Be it subtle inner pain or explosive intensity, it's practically impossible for me to love a film if it doesn't feature some great performances or at least a brilliant one in the lead. Secondly, and most importantly, is the story. The thing I love most about film is the ability it has to immerse me into a story and take me on a journey outside of my own world. Be it through wild comedic adventure, an action-filled extravaganza, a deep, emotional story about characters or a powerful epic drama, I have to love a story to love a film. Luckily for me, The Aviator features a magnificent story of a very complex individual and is anchored by one of the finest performances I've ever seen in the form of Leonardo DiCaprio. While it does have flawless technical aspects (including a score that never ceases to amaze), the film is founded on these two elements. As you well know, Scorsese's film tells the story of the infamous Howard Hughes who led a life full of beautiful women and a huge amount of money to do whatever he pleased with. Hughes decided to put this money towards his huge ambition and his love for film and, more importantly, aviation.
As the film begins we see him working on his debut feature, Hell's Angels, which proudly portrayed his love for the sky and the planes that glide through it. Throughout the production he's met with an enormous amount of obstacles from money troubles to plane troubles to having to reshoot the entire picture because by the time it was finished, the era of silent films was over. We progress through the prominent stages of Howard's life and along the way, Scorsese shows us everything about his life from his relationships with beauties like Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) to his battles with severe mental issues ranging from OCD to bipolar disorder and potentially paranoid-schizophrenia; and all of this is portrayed exceptionally while in the background his aviation empire rises, falls and rises back again and his film career is met with constant turmoil. Scorsese manages everything perfectly so that the viewer is always aware of what's currently on screen, what's happening that we aren't seeing and what has driven the story up to the point we are currently at. It flows at a perfect pace, never going to quickly for the viewer to catch up and never dragging throughout it's almost three hour running time.
Scorsese's direction is perfect as he creates, in my opinion, what is easily his best film since Taxi Driver and one of the finest films of the decade. The film shares a lot of similarities to Scorsese's other widely acclaimed biopic, Raging Bull, and one of the key similarities is that the film is anchored by a wildly intense, unstoppable performance; in this case coming from Leonardo DiCaprio. Taking on someone as complex as Howard Hughes would be an immensely difficult task for any actor, especially one as young as DiCaprio, but Scorsese firmly believed in his abilities (the two previously worked together on Gangs of New York) and his decision pays off in a way that I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams. DiCaprio's power is stunning, his absorption into the character goes beyond anything one could have expected and he ultimately creates one of the finest performances I've ever seen. A raw, brutally intense portrayal that perfectly encompasses the legend that is Howard Hughes in a film that tells his story admirably and never cuts corners. Scorsese and DiCaprio both create what is bound to be one of the highlights of their careers and certainly is one of the highlights of this incredible decade of film.