The Aviator

3.5/5 stars

This is another biopic, which seems the genre to be this past year. The film follows the young Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) before he becomes a complete recluse. We see the beginnings of mental instability (schizophrenia?), but at the focus is the innovations and spirit of the young Hughes.

DiCaprio has come over from heart-throb-annoying actor to someone that I can watch and be sucked into the dilusion. There was a time when I shunned any movie he was in (after Titanic) just because he was in it. I might be turning around to seeing almost anything he’s in now. Brad Pitt never made that transition for me.

The film does drag just a bit in the middle, but not for too long. There are a lot of cameos by actors that I know — Edward Herrmann (from Gilmore Girls on the censorship board, Brent Spiner (from Star Trek Next Generation) as an airplane designer, and Jude Law as Errol Flynn. A fun distraction for an afternoon.