THE AVIATOR

Leonardo di Caprio, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilly, Alan Alda, Alec Baldwin, Kate Beckinsale

"Some men dream the future. He built it."

A look into the life of Howard Hughes when he was first starting as a film director as well as one of the first men to develop the aviation industry. The film also explores the millionaire's various affairs with several actresses such as Katherine Hepburn and Ava Gardner. We are also shown snippets and glimpses of his slow decline into paranoia and dementia. It starts good enough as we are shown how engrossed he is with his passions. Film making and aviation. Money is no problem as he dips into his own account to the utter detriment of his accountant to finance his hobbies. 

 He came up with a US$ 4 Million movie called Hell's Angels in the early 30s and spent millions as well to develop planes which in those days were still in the experimental stages of development. He was a genius in some way but on the other hand he was also a deeply troubled individual. The film though doesn't truly explain the reason behind his paranoia and it focuses more on his obsession with manufacturing airplanes. It was rather long in my opinion and it took on a surreal twist towards the end to showcase his rising dementia. His relationships with the actresses were not given enough exposure but I guess based on the title the director wanted to highlight the phase in Howard Hughes life's as an aviator. 

Acting wise, Leonardo di Caprio was believable although he didn't seem to age much throughout the movie. Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Katherine Hepburn was very good. She really did sound like her from the voice down to her boisterous laughter.
Frankly I expected more from this movie. I was disappointed it didn't reveal more about his later years. But I guess nobody really knows what happened to Howard Hughes. He remains one of the most reclusively mysterious persons in history.