The Aviator (2004)

So it's come to this -- a Martin Scorsese picure whose sole function is to troll for Oscars. Le sigh. I mean, it's not like Scorsese is sleeping on the job here. On the contrary, he directs this like his life depended on it and comes up with a few spellbinding setpieces along the way (the airplane crash is a wow). His facility with actors, as well, is at its finest -- the man even gets a decent performance out of Kate Beckinsale, whom I generally find intolerable. DiCaprio in particular makes all his detractors look like assholes (again), and Cate Blanchett has a grand old time as Katherine Hepburn. But then, there's that screenplay. Let's face it, this is a standard-issue biopic, and not even Scorsese can keep it from falling into the and-then-THIS-happened rhythm that seems to dog the genre like a bad hangover. Maybe that's the real problem: Marty is trying so hard to keep the film moving and keep it looking nice that he never digs into the man who was Howard Hughes. We see his obsession, but we never feel it. It's a superficial portrait. And I know the response to that is, well, maybe it had to be that way because Hughes, you know, being such a basket case and all, never really let anyone into his own private hell so by definition we have to view him from an outside perspective. My response to that is, well... yeah. Some subjects just don't make for scintillating viewing no matter how you trick 'em up. Hughes, the perpetual enigma, is quite possubly one of them. Great to look at, but considering who it's coming from it's one hell of a letdown.

Grade: B-