The Aviator may be almost three hours, but I never wanted it to end. The Aviator is about the rise and the beginning of the fall of Howard Hughes. Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator makes the past as urgent and vibrant as the present instead of vying for the respectful sepia-toned frozen in amber tone of most movies set in the past. Scorsese’s formula is clear: a great individual is driven by perfection until the establishment snipes at his heels in order to keep him in what they perceive as his lane and Hughes struggles to remain on top.
Only Scorsese can convincingly cast a legendary wealthy and accomplished man as the underdog in The Aviator. Scorsese’s The Aviator treats legends like Hughes, Katherine Hepburn and Ava Gardner as real people that he empathizes and admires instead of in a tabloid, prurient way. Scorsese’s The Aviator could be seen as emotionally autobiographical even though the film is not actually about his life. The Aviator is haunting and never minimizes the price of achievement.
I decided to finally watch The Aviator and two other notable movies that starred Leonardo DiCaprio in one day to see if he is really as great an actor as I remember and decided to go in chronological order. DiCaprio’s baby face is distinctive even as he matures. He is no chameleon, but before I knew it, I stopped seeing him as DiCaprio, and he completely disappeared and became Hughes. DiCaprio’s performance also gave me an epiphany/duh moment: Hughes was a model for Marvel’s Stark! Of course Cate Blanchett always does a great job even if she is in dreck so her performance is no different in The Aviator. Kate Beckinsale’s portrayal of Ava Gardner may have been her best work to date. I had no idea it was Beckinsale. Alec Baldwin as Hughes’ adversary probably contributed to him being cast in 30 Rock. The only misstep: why is Gwen Stefani in The Aviator? Thank you, God, that Johnny Depp was not cast as Hughes because he would have made it more goofy caricature instead of emotionally realistic and sympathetic.
If you are like me and didn’t see The Aviator because it was yet another historical biopic and you figured it could wait, don’t! The Aviator is perfect even if the CGI is shaky.