The Aviator was nominated for 6 Golden Globes and 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Its wide range of scenes and vivid realism make it a great movie. Martin Scorsese has made a lot of great movies, like Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), and Gangs of New York (2002), as well as the controversial The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). But Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) trying to become a "made man" is without a doubt his best work. The Aviator comes to life with nostalgic settings and a rich tapestry of colours and shapes that bring Howard Hughes' unique love of life to mind. John Logan, who is known for movies like "The Last Samurai" (2003) and "Gladiator" (2000), has written a screenplay that gives some insight into the mysterious Hughes and shows how the people who lived with him behaved. In short, the movie is a visual masterpiece with top-notch cinematography that no movie fan should miss...
The Aviator is about Howard Hughes's early life, from 1930 to 1947, when he was one of America's most strange and confusing billionaire playboys. Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), who was known for his strange business dealings and fearless sense of adventure, turned a small inheritance into a huge business empire. And as he went along, his openness to risk and life in general made people around him interested in him. Hughes starts a career in Hollywood and produces a number of famous movies, such as Hell's Angels, The Front Page, and Scarface. He gets most of the Hughes Tool Company, which was started by his father, as a gift. Hughes's obsessive drive for perfection makes him more popular in Hollywood, and it even helps Jean Harlow get her start.
But Howard Hughes is not a one-trick pony. Soon, he becomes interested in the growing aviation industry and becomes an important part of TWA. He also often flies his own planes. In the years to come, Hughes's drive would lead him to work in the defence industry, the electronics industry, Las Vegas casinos, and many other places. But along the way, he meets a lot of people who are each interesting in their own way. Hughes' relationships with Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) and Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) give us a look into his personal life, while Hughes' assistant and right-hand man, Noah Dietrich (John C. Reilly), gives up a lot of his own life to help Hughes live out his latest ideas and visions. Senator Ralph Owen Brewster (Alan Alda), who is against war profiteering, accuses Hughes of doing it when he builds the Spruce Goose, the biggest plane ever made that can land on water. Hughes goes after the Senator with all the force and zeal he has shown in his other projects. Hughes proves his critics wrong by keeping his promise that the Spruce Goose will fly, even though it has been widely reported that it won't.
Even though Million Dollar Baby won the Oscar for best picture, The Aviator can be proud of being nominated as one of the year's best movies (along with Finding Neverland, Ray, and Sideways). And the movie deserves that high honour for sure. There aren't many movies that show the beauty of America or, more importantly, how one person can move mountains by living his life with ambition, drive, inspiration, and a pure love for everything it has to offer. Overall, The Aviator is one of the best movies of the last few years, and movie fans would do well to watch every minute of it with the same excitement that a young Howard Hughes did...
