Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biography flies high and mighty when it does indeed fly--down on the ground, it's aloof, cold and a little slow...and yet, one gets the impression Scorsese doesn't notice. He's an extremely self-satisfied filmmaker who doesn't bother to pick up the pace. When Hughes begins to deteriorate, the movie gets bogged down in the same red-tinged psychological muddle that doomed the entire midsection of "New York, New York". The period flavor--as with "New York"--is careful but unsatisfying, and Leonardo DiCaprio is serviceable in the lead but nothing grander, nothing more than workman-like (his little boy voice strains throughout, cussing like a kid playing grown-up; his height doesn't detract, however, and his weight and demeanor seem correct). Cate Blanchett playing Katharine Hepburn is too fast at the beginning, but finds a more appropriate style; unfortunately, there's too much of her. Thelma Schoonmaker's lightning-fast editing fails her and Scorsese in this instance. We don't need to see Hepburn arriving at the movie studio, turning the lights on and meeting a handsome admirer. Whose story is this? The sequence around the Hepburn family dinner table is, however, a smash, and Blanchett is lovely in her period wardrobe. I didn't believe for a second the impersonations of Jean Harlow (very minor) or Ava Gardner (a big problem) ...and what happened to the "Outlaw" controversy? It seems to take place off-screen. The editing also slips up in the final third, allowing scenes to run on too long and letting shots get ahead of themselves (as with DiCaprio behind the wheel of the Hercules, seeming to turn the plane too early). Howard Shore's score is great, Robert Richardson's cinematography is terrific, but "The Aviator" is overall a disappointment; an expensive and good-looking lump of coal. ** from ****
Review of The Aviator
