Not Scorsese's Best, not even close.

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2004)

Though certainly not a bad film by any means, it still is only Scorsese's fourth best film (his best is Gangs of NY, then Goodfellas, then Casino). I do think Leo deserves a nomination because he displayed the character excellently, especially the OCD (which i would know what it is like, because i have it), but I still think Colin Farrel deserves the win. Also Cate deserves a nomination because i thought she was Hepburn, but i also think Angelina deserves the win. I don't how ever think that Scorsese deserves a nomination because the film had many flaws, all having to do with direction and the story that he chose to use, if you were to say he deserved the nomination for Gangs of NY i would agree, i thought he should have won for that, maybe even Goodfellas, but definitely not this one, i'll be fair and give my reasons. First of all why did he put so many long dialog sequences with no score in the movie that had nothing to do with character, it was all about money and politics, and really i couldn't give a crap and a half less, also the drama suffers because of this wasted time and we learn nothing about the people other then they like money, also where was the score? i don't even think there was one, the drama suffers because of that too. Another flaw is the film is too long, I don't mind long movies, in fact i enjoy and prefer long movies, if it needs to be that long, because i feel a movie should be long to tell a whole story and be entertaining, but this one was easily 40 minutes too long, not that it couldn't be as long as it was, it just needs more to do with the characters, and less about money and who he was dating. There were only about 5 very interesting scenes all having do to with the actual aviation like the speed test, the crash (the best scene of the movie), the filming of hell angels, and the mental breakdown towards the end, which was even a little under acted and under played. It had very little, if not, no drama because we didn't learn anything about the characters, other then he had OCD, and they all wanted money. The story didn't feel like it was used, it felt incomplete, they was so much more they could have done, and it could have been very dramatic if there was a score, more character just in general at least, and if his mental breakdown had been more devastating then it was, i would think it deserved a best picture nomination, and even a director nomination, but since it was how it was, i don't think it deserves any other nominations then actor, actress, cinematography, and visuals. 7 out of a 10, barely.