Better than Citizen Kane

Rating: 10/10 (10 February 2005)

If you liked Citizen Kane, you will love The Aviator - a biopic telling the amazing story of Howard Hughes.
Leonardo Di Caprio brilliantly plays the famously daring filmmaker, aviator and business tycoon. One of Hughes' earlier films was at the time the most expensive ever made - he'd purchased his own private airforce (70+ aircraft), and had a record 20+ cameras filming the simulated dogfights. Hughes later went to form his own aircraft manufacturing company (as a pilot he broke numerous world records in his self-designed airplanes - famously crash-landing one of them in Beverly Hills), purchase and revitalise Trans World Airlines, and eventually pilot the sole flight of the famous 1940s aircraft 'Spruce Goose' - to this day the largest aircraft ever made.
All the while Hughes was renowned for the glamorous Hollywood blondes he inevitably had on his arms, and within an intimate circle of trusted associates, his struggle with mental illnesses - a germ phobia and obsessive compulsive disorder.
An amazing person captured in an amazing film. The Aviator is nearly three hours long, yet still makes the famous (and brilliant) life of Citizen Kane look positively uninspired by comparison.