Good, not great, Scorsese

Rating: 7/10 (15 January 2005)

The first 10 minutes of "The Aviator" are more exciting and emotionally gratifying than the entirety of Martin Scorsese's previous epic, "Gangs of New York" (2002).
You gotta hand it to Scorsese. The man learns from his mistakes.
After casting the pretty, but talentless, Cameron Diaz in "Gangs of New York" and watching that turn into a wretched film - sorry, Daniel Day-Lewis' commanding performance aside, that film's positively dull - he thought better when it came to casting "The Aviator." Yes, he cast beautiful women in this, too. But he found beautiful women who are also incredibly talented. Cate Blanchett and Kate Beckinsale.
Not that "The Aviator" doesn't have its attractive actress with unproven talent. Scorsese cast singer Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow, but then wisely gave her just two lines of dialogue in the entire film.
"The Aviator" actually seems like two films. The first part deals with Howard Hughes' (Leonardo DiCaprio) obsession to make movies and with gorgeous women. The second part delves into Hughes' fight with Pan Am and Congress, and his better-known obsessive behavior - collecting and storing his urine in jars, for instance - that turned him into the world's most famous recluse.
The first part is interesting. The second is not.
After a brief, rather Oedipal prologue that foreshadows Hughes' odd behavior later, writer John Logan gets right into the Hughes' adult life. Scorsese cuts to the chase, showing us the first year of the filming of "Hell's Angels" (1930).
The entire sequence about "Hell's Angels" is not only fascinating but also breathtaking when Scorsese takes to the skies to show the filming of the WWI dogfights in the film. The spectacular aerial fight alone proves what a master filmmaker he is.
About 30 minutes into the film, we meet Katharine Hepburn, played marvelously by Australian actress Blanchett, and the film takes off. Blanchett completely dominates the screen. She captures every nuance of a young Hepburn. Her Hepburn's got spunk, attitude, charisma and you forget you're watching Blanchett. Hers is one of 2004's best performances.
Later, we get another pleasant surprise - young Beckinsale as screen siren Ava Gardner. After the wretched "Van Helsing," it's good to see Beckinsale putting her talent to better use. She may not be physically built like Gardner, but she carries off the role with poise and panache. She's thoroughly believable as the legendary actress.
"The Aviator" would've benefited greatly had it concentrated more on the Hughes-Gardner relationship and less on Hughes' eccentricities.
In fact, it's those two women who keep the film interesting. When they leave the story, the film falls flat. The other characters are not nearly as interesting as these two women and it's to these actresses' credit that they so completely take over a film that's not about their characters.
There are some fine supporting performances. Alec Baldwin's turned into a good character actor and the always-brilliant Ian Holm makes it all look so easy as Professor Fitz. There's a sensationally funny bit when Hughes forces Fitz to pose as a mathematician to prove to movie censors that Jane Russell's cleavage in "The Outlaw" (1943) isn't all that revealing.
Chances are, Scorsese will win the Oscar. He deserves a nomination, but I don't know whether he deserves to win for this movie. If he does, I'm certain it would be because Oscar voters were too dumb not to reward him for directing "Raging Bull" (1980) and "GoodFellas" (1990).
My enjoyment of "The Aviator" boiled down to one person - Cate Blanchett. Oh, what a tremendous difference real talent makes.