As grand an entertainment as we've come to expect from Scorsese.

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2005)

Scorsese knows how to mine the neuroses of his characters and in The Aviator he has one of his richest subjects for this purpose. DiCaprio's evolving characterization from the young to the older, moustached Hughes who some of us older folks remember especially well, rightfully deserves high praise. Like so many biographies, this was not intended to be a documentary, I'm sure, but a reflection of the idiosyncrasies that made Hughes stand out like the battleships of the sky he conceived and built. Some of the other reviewers here have suggested a comparison between Scorsese's Hughes and Welles's Kane, reflecting the same kind of explicit arrogance and power, and I agree. To those comments, I would like to add that the real Hearst wrote an enduring chapter in American journalism, just as Hughes's accomplishments in the fields of aviation and, particularly notable at his death, medical research, endures for us far beyond the public image of the mentally ill reclusive. We love cinema characters overflowing with competing flaws and ideas of genius, and Scorsese has provided us with an enjoyable time in the theater and a period of long reflection afterward.
Bravo Marty, again. I don't care if The Aviator doesn't match or beat his cinematic prowess in Raging Bull or Goodfellas; I only know that in an era of such motion picture mediocrity, it's a pleasure to see the Scorsese Team delight us with great direction, superlative editing as usual from Schoonmaker, and matchless cinematography by Richardson. No other director today knows how to make such a "complete" film.