Movie Review: The Aviator

The Aviator

The story of Howard Hughes is one that many people have tried to tell, and which even more people have been interested in telling. Leonardo DiCaprio himself has purportedly been interested in the story for years now. Though he doubtless worked long and hard on getting this movie made, the delay probably actually helped rather than hindered in that the more mature DiCaprio is surprisingly suited to the title role. It also gave him time to meet Martin Scorsese (the two worked together on the highly underrated The Gangs of New York), which turned out to be an ideal marriage for the making of The Aviator.

Most of us, of course, are familiar with the eccentric Hughes as being one of America's first billionaires as well as a raging eccentric. What many today don't know or can't recall is that Hughes was a businessman, innovator, and personality long before he died as a recluse in a Las Vegas hotel room. The Aviator tells the fascinating story of Hughes' early years of success and fame while offering harbingers of the horrors to come in later years.

Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), who inherited a tool factory from his parents at the tender age of 18, used money from the business to finance movie-making including the precedent-setting Hell's Angels. Rapidly acquiring a name in Hollywood, Hughes found himself squiring some of the most famous and desirable actresses of the era. Jean Harlow (Gwen Stefani) was his date for the premiere of Hell's Angels; Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) proved his match in intelligence and temperment, though as she herself put it the pair were "too alike to last." Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) knew precisely what she was doing when she got involved with Hughes, and despite her disappointments in him, she remained an understanding friend.

Hughes also had a lifelong love of airplanes, though, and was a top-notch designer (his perfectionism concerning the dogfight scenes in Hell's Angels was in part the result of his own knowledge of aircraft). As the designer, Hughes often acted as the test pilot for his creations as well, enjoying setting speed and distance records and the accompanying glory. Though he was nearly killed when he crashed into a Beverly Hills home while flight testing the XF-11 spy plane he'd designed, he maintained his love for flying. With the money and loyalty offered by his shrewd factory manager Noah Deitrich (John C. Reilly), Hughes even went so far as to purchase an airline he eventually built into TWA.

Over the course of the years, however, Hughes gradually grew both more paranoid and more compulsive in his behavior. His love affairs didn't last; his sense of betrayal was sometimes absolute though he himself was sometimes loyal and surprisingly forgiving even as, on other occasions, he could be unreasonable and uncompromising. Add such a dichotomy to the fact that financial difficulties thanks to the funding required by his airline and his new designs were often highly stressful at best. Although Pan Am's Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin), in partnership with Senator Owen Brewster of Maine (Alan Alda) did all they could to thwart Hughes' success and take advantage of his weaknesses, Hughes rallied himself above his own demons to fight the pair's machinations.

The direction is typical of Martin Scorsese, whose attention to detail is notorious. The man actually set out to make the different time periods of his film appear as if they were filmed during that era! The color, for example, was digitally altered to appear as if it had been generated via one of the old Technicolor techniques in use at the time. That's not something most people know about or even consciously notice, but it does add to the ambiance. The sets and costumes, however, are the real substance of the period feel. Both the production and costume designers are previous Oscar® nominees, and both are obviously in top form here because the end product is richly detailed and wonderfully authentic (wait until you see the Coconut Club frequented by Hughes and his dates).

Leonardo DiCaprio has been much touted by critics for his portrayal of Howard Hughes, and I can understand why. Though I still find him young-looking and with a much too boyish voice (the man is 30, for heaven's sake!), his casting as Hughes turns out to be right on the money. His performance is excellent, and he does a fine job of bringing the tortured genius back to life. Kate Beckinsale is cool and beautiful as Ava Gardner (whether or not the real Gardner was quite so cool is something I'm unsure of); Alex Baldwin is suitably Machiavellian as the president of Pan Am; and Alan Alda, best known for being a really good and sensitive guy, is amazingly slimy as the Senator bought and paid for by Pan Am. John C. Reilly gives a deceptively retiring performance, while Gwen Stefani's brief time onscreen only makes you hope she appears in a more extended role soon. But as good as DiCaprio is, and as well as some others acquit themselves here, the performance of the show is unquestionably that of Cate Blanchett. She and DiCaprio have already been nominated for Golden Globes for their performances; I'll be disappointed if Blanchett doesn't get an Oscar® nomination as well.

The Aviator does itself and its audience a favor by reminding us of the reason Hughes became rich and famous in the first place. His was a magnetic and brilliant personality, and if he had a flaw it was that he burned too hot and fast for most others to keep up with him. When his drive and intellect were combined with mental illness, there was only one possible outcome. But The Aviator only hints poignantly at what is to come, and gives us all a glimpse of the glory that was Hughes in his heyday.

POLITICAL NOTES: The partnership between a Senator and one of Hughes' rivals is all too chilling in its implications, and those who look to the past as a more innocent time will see the conclusive evidence that some politicians have always had dirt on their hands. It's not a particularly long or revealing look behind the scenes in Washington (this is a movie about Howard Hughes, after all, not about the politics of the day), but it's telling. It's especially interesting to watch Hughes take on the powers that be without compromising himself in any way to do so.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: The Aviator is rated PG-13 for "thematic elements, sexual content, nudity, language, and a crash sequence." While I'm certain that nothing in the movie is too intense for the average 12 year-old, I don't imagine that the average 12 year-old would necessarily enjoy the film. In fact, I attended a screening of The Aviator in the company of a friend of mine and her 14 year-old son. While she and I waxed poetic over the film, her son shrugged and said, "I should have gone to see The Darkness instead."