Wonderful Film

Rating: Null/10 (9 January 2005)

In a year of very poor movies, all I can say is thank goodness for Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Di Caprio. The Aviator is fantastic. Leonardo Di Caprio's performance as Howard Hughes is amazing...I am a fan of his but this is definitely his best ever work. The Oscar Nom is an absolute certainty. I also predict that it will win Oscars for Picture, Director, Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Special Visual Effects, Make-Up and Sound.
The film magnificently captures Hughes' tortured mental state...his germophobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder is so acute that even a door knob presents a major threat. Once again, I could not imagine that Di Caprio had such a performance in him. The final 15 minutes was for me worth the price of admission alone. Other performances deserve a mention as well...Cate Blanchett is a shoo-in for an Oscar for her spot-on rendition of Katharine Hepburn. John C. Reilly gives his usual excellent performance, Alec Baldwin is great as Juan Trippe and Alan Alda is on great form as the slimy Brewster. And although her performance has been criticised in some quarters, I thought that Kate Beckinsale was a convincing Ava Gardner. I am not a Jude Law fan, but his small part as Errol Flynn was highly amusing.
The Aviator is long and is not for those with a short attention span. But it is the kind of intelligent film-making that is seen very little these days. The cinema I saw it in was packed and hardly anyone moved throughout the course of the film, so there is obviously an appetite for this kind of film. I highly recommend The Aviator.