Twenty yr ago , Martin Scorsese returned to the director‘s chair withThe Aviator , a biopic based on the life of eccentric aviation groundbreaker , film producer , engineer , philanthropist , and business magnate Howard Hughes . With an ensemble cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio and including Cate Blanchett in an Oscar - winning performance , The Aviator , as is accustomed for Scorsese movies , received approximate - universal acclaim from critic , earn a very respectable $ 211 million at the box government agency and come through five Academy Award at the 77th Academy Awards from a leading 11 nomination .
On newspaper , The Aviatorwas a winner account — why , then , does it palpate such an outlier in Scorsese ’s filmography ? The revered director has get some of his greatest and most acclaimed efforts in the twenty-first 100 , even succeed his first and so far only Oscar during the 2000s , so where doesThe Aviatorfit in his cinematic footmark ? I ’m not here to trash this movie because it ’s not the form of movie you trash . However , on its 20th anniversary , it ’s the perfect meter to discussThe Aviator‘s bequest or lack therefrom , and why it ’s not as highly regarded as other movies in his filmography likeThe Departed , The Wolf of Wall Street , andKillers of the Flower Moon .
‘Show me all the blueprints’
The Aviatorstars Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes and chronicle his air travel career , subsequent incursion into Hollywood filmmaking , tempestuous quixotic life , womb-to-tomb battle with OCD , and eventual bloodline into mental deterioration as his demons get a hold of him . Clocking in at a mighty 170 minute , the pic goes through Hughes ’ life in depth , paying limited care to his aviation and bring out career and well - know Latinian language with classical Hollywood hotshot Katharine Hepburn ( Blanchett ) and Ava Gardner ( Kate Beckinsale ) .
For lack of a better word , The Aviatoris quite a formal biopic . It follows all the Hellenic staples of the writing style , focusing on a blemished and troubled admirer whose chief obstacle is himself and showcasing an extended time period of his lifetime with an vehemence on hardship . Like many other Scorsese heroes , Hughes is bust and volatile , a ticking time bomb calorimeter jeopardize to break loose and take down all those around him . The AviatormarksDiCaprio ’s 2d consecutive collaboration with Scorsese , and the two once again make deception together , at least when it comes to Hughes ’ characterization .
It ’s not like Scorsese to be subtle , and his approach to Hughes ’ OCD is as in - your - face as his most violent and splanchnic sequences . DiCaprio produce it work , for the most part , largely through his quiet moments . The thespian ’s brass is in a perpetual DoS of unrest throughout the movie , twitching ever so slimly every fourth dimension he take heed or see something displeasing . Sure , DiCaprio has the Oscar magazine moments whenever Hughes obsesses in a single detail or runs to the bath to do the most violent mitt wash known to man . Yet , it ’s the self-examining , unsounded moments where he really sell Hughes ’ struggle with an unobserved fiend .
As for the ease of the cast , The Aviatorspares no disbursal in endowment . There ’s the late Alan Alda in an Oscar - nominated functioning as the movie ’s First State - facto antagonist , Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster ; there ’s perennial persona actors John C. Reilly , Ian Holm , and Danny Huston , plus Alec Baldwin and even Jude Law , in one of the six ( ! ) films he had in 2004 . Yet , aside from DiCaprio , The Aviatoris probably good known for Cate Blanchett ’s Oscar - winning performance as the mighty Katharine Hepburn , who had a gamey - profile romance with Hughes before her even in high spirits - visibility , 10 - foresighted affair with Spencer Tracy .
Like all not bad public presentation base on real people , Blanchett proceed for evocation rather than imitation , although her florid Transatlantic emphasis does betray her in a few scenes . I ca n’t be excited at this Oscar win , even though it look more and more like the Academy was just making up for snubbing her in 1999 for her lead play inElizabeth . At the time , it made sense to reward her without have it off that her best work was yet to do .
In hindsight , the production values are whereThe Aviatortruly shines . There ’s Sandy Powell ’s exquisite , Oscar - winning costume designs , a strong challenger for the best of the first one-half of the 2000s . There ’s also Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo ’s lavish nontextual matter direction that faithfully re - creates Hollywood ’s Golden Age in one import before shift to immersive repair shed the next . Martin Scorsese ’s reliable editor , Thelma Schoonmaker , might be the veridical hero here , aptly making this near - three - hour motion-picture show seem palatable and immersive even when the grandeur of it all threatens to crumble under its weight .
‘There’s too much Howard Hughes in Howard Hughes’
Martin Scorsese pretty much dominated the 2000s and 2010s . The ’ XC were a rummy stop for him ; he lead three of his all - time dandy efforts — Goodfellas , The Age of Innocence , andCasino — during the decade ’s first five years before taking it slower during the latter one-half . 2002 saw him helm the divisiveGangs of New Yorkbefore moving on toThe Aviator ; then cameThe Departed . Now , The Departedis not Scorsese ’s best movie , but it ’s the one that made him an Oscar winner , straight off taking it to the top grade of his filmography .
What followed is a fabled six - film run that seems taken straight out of a film lover ’s Letterboxd account : Shutter Island , Hugo , The Wolf of Wall Street , Silence , The Irishman , andKillers of the Flower Moon . All these are lordly , challenging , epic , and thought - kindle sweat that recontextualize not only the confines of their respective genre but Scorsese ’s legacy as one of picture palace ’s most important and accomplished filmmakers . Hugois the director ’s only phratry moving-picture show and an dear and tender love letter to cinema so heartwarming and poignant that it might as well be take out of Spielberg ’s resumé . Silenceis a thought-provoking exploration of faith and doubt in the face of societal insistence and oppression . The Wolf of Wall Streetistheultimaterepresentation ofScorsese ’s visual modality of the American Dream through a classifiable New oculus that would occur to delineate the crime and satirical genres for the rest of the decade .
These seven movies have become synonymous with Scorsese in way thatThe Aviatornever could . They ’re subversive , avant-garde , feverish , volatile , confrontational , and finally rewarding , pushing the boundaries of what ’s expected and show a unexampled side to Scorsese , even when he ’s tread familiar earth . They influenced a newfangled generation of late millennials and early Gen Z photographic film geeks and launched many of the X ’s most interesting performers , including Asa Butterfield , Margot Robbie , Adam Driver , and Lily Gladstone .
Compared to these movies , The Aviatorseems painfully ceremonious , the most straightforward one in a lineup that seems intentionally wild and thus far more interesting . That ’s less onThe Aviatorand more on every other Scorsese movie during this period ; they ’re just that good . The Aviatoris solid , but it ’s just that : a well - evidence , well - direct , well - perform biopic that settles for being well - put - together . Considering just how strong and disruptive Scorsese ’s subsequent efforts are , The Aviatorseems like a Chihuahua in a pack of Hugo Wolf : It ’s spunky and loud but far too shaky and ordinary to keep up .
‘The way of the future’
On its twentieth day of remembrance , The Aviatorseems even more of an outlier in Scorsese ’s filmography . Even beyond the context of Scorsese ’s career throughout the 2000s and 2010s , The Aviatorlacks the sharpness of his most effective projects . There ’s strength in its clenched fist , but the punch just does n’t down quite as well , leave an emotional prick or else of a bruise . Yet , it should be a testament to Scorsese ’s force that this expertly crafted film is him control at half - strength . Many filmmakers go a lifetime without ever coming close to the heights that Scorsese reaches inThe flyer , but to him , it ’s just suave and uncomplicated glide .
The Aviatoris Scorsese at his most conventional , the close he ’ll probably come to make a typical Hollywood biopic . There ’s nothing inherently bad , but one ca n’t help but desire a bit more from him here . In more room than one , The Aviatorwas the calm before the creative and groundbreaking storm that was Scorsese ’s filmography in the back one-half of the 2000s and the 2010s , and for that , we should all be grateful it subsist . Oh , and the costumes , too ; it might actually be all about the costumes .
The Aviatoris uncommitted tostream on MGM+ .
