The Aviator Review

This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review every movie and limited series I watch.

Admittedly, even for me subjectively, this is probably a 4.5-star movie. The pacing is definitely not perfect, but part of that might be because I get so excited when the first half-hour or forty-five minutes of a movie just flies by, and then the rest of the movie just doesn't move quite as fast as that. However, despite that, I genuinely can't think of a single moment in this film that I feel deserved to be cut out, anything in this film that felt like it lingered for too long or wasn't quite covered enough. There's really no part of this film where I felt, "Eh, I don't really NEED this." Simply put, this is the fastest-paced three-hour movie I've ever seen. That's an absolutely incredible feat in my opinion.

I don't understand why it still seems like a lot of people don't give Leonardo DiCaprio the credit as an actor that he deserves. I don't know, it feels like I talk to a lot of people that just don't like the guy and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. Say what you want about Titanic, but he was fantastic. He and Claire Danes were the best part of Romeo + Juliet by a mile. Finally, of course, Inception is a perfect film to me, and even though that's primarily because of the craftsmanship on display, all of the actors, including DiCaprio, proved themselves just as capable. This is one of the first times DiCaprio was recognized by the Academy for his work, which is crazy considering his previous two films were Catch Me If You Can and Gangs of New York. Both of these movies got considerable praise and Oscar buzz, but he wasn't recognized for them. However, he got his chance to shine in his first Lead Actor nomination here, and he absolutely deserves it. With his perfect Southern accent and his dedication to the slow decline of this character, he nails every single moment on screen.

Then again, so do all of the other actors. At this point, I'm willing to acknowledge John C. Reilly as one of the most underappreciated actors working today, not necessarily underrated, but just not given credit for some of the great performances he's given to cinema. Alan Alda and Alec Baldwin both chew their screentime as slimy, cold-hearted officials, which I guess is just Alec Baldwin's character type forever, but you know, he's good at it, so I guess I can't complain. I was also surprisingly blown away by Kate Beckinsale in this film, an actress I've never really given the time of day outside of this but proved herself to be phenomenal here. Oh, and Gwen Stefani is apparently in this movie, which... what the heck?! I was not expecting to see her name, of all names, to pop up in a Martin Scorsese film.

However, it would be a crime for me to not also mention, in what is my opinion, the career-best performance of Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn. Oh, my word, at first, I thought this performance was not going to work for me. She acted very much like the theatrical Hepburn as she appeared in her films, which I was very nervous was going to get very cartoony and over-the-top very quick. However, as the film progresses, the facade behind this over-the-top theatrical persona shows itself and the layers peel back on Blanchett's performance, and I was simply blown away by her work here. She absolutely deserved her Oscar win here, I loved her performance.

Of course, though, the most prevalent aspects of what makes this film so phenomenal are Martin Scorsese's direction, John Logan's script, Howard Shore's music, and Thelma Schoonmaker's editing. All of these elements combined together create an incredible portrait of a man struggling with childhood trauma and uncontrollable compulsions as a result of OCD, and based on some basic research my family did after the movie, quite a few of the events in this film are portrayed completely accurately. Shockingly, one of these events that you might not believe was portrayed accurately to how it actually happened is what might possibly one of the most intense crash sequences of all time. It's an absolutely unbelievable display, and much like the majority of this film, it's going to be seared into my memory for a long time. You can tell Scorsese, Logan, and Schoonmaker really worked hard to make the audience feel the internal strife of Howard Hughes's compulsions, the constantly flashing lights and overlapping conversations of the outside world, and it all creates an incredible overview of a man who struggled with a lot of personal demons and definitely didn't handle them in the best way sometimes.

The Aviator is probably the best Howard Hughes biopic we're ever going to get, and it's possibly one of the most thorough biopics I've ever seen. Despite that, though, it never feels bogged down by how thorough it is, it just feels really streamlined even with a two-hour-forty-five-minute runtime. All of the performances are phenomenal, the direction and writing are euphoric, the score is fantastic, the scope of this picture is absolutely breathtaking, and I think this film made me realize that I just really love fast-paced, dialogue-driven movies that treat the dialogue sequences as if they're big action sequences -- lots of stakes, everything constantly moving, and highs always being ridden. In all honesty, this might take my personal spot as my favorite Scorsese film I've seen so far. While I haven't seen a lot of them, I can't help but fall head over heels for this one.

Letter Grade: A+