A look at the life of legendary aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank).
After becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, Amelia was thrust into a new role as America's sweetheart - the legendary "goddess of light," known for her larger-than-life charisma. Yet, even with her global fame solidified, she never gave up filrting with danger. In the summer of 1937, Amelia set off on her most daunting mission yet: a solo flight around the world.
Amelia chronicles these events, as well as the other loves of her life: husband, promoter and publishing magnate George P. Putnam (Richard Gere) and long time friend and lover, pilot Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor).
Watching this bland biopic of Amelia Earhart’s life you’d be forgiven for thinking it was all blue skies, at least until her round-the-world odyssey went awry and she disappeared over the Pacific in 1937. Most of the film focuses on her achievements: becoming the first to fly solo across the Atlantic, a hesitant hero and best-selling author. But there’s little to reveal what made her tick, apart from the obvious, cue some lovely cinematography from the cockpit. Yes we learn she was a free spirit who made her home in the sky rather than her husband’s bed. We see she found the nature of her fame superficial and difficult to deal with.
But Hilary Swank’s competent performance is let down by a script that doesn’t always ring true. “Flying lets me move in three dimensions,” she says, at which point you have to wonder what two-dimensional world the rest of us move in. Earhart’s inner life barely gets a look-in – her famous dalliances with the same sex warrant a one-liner and a glance at a woman with good legs.
The film’s best moments are when things go wrong. Director Mira Nair ratchets up the tension as Earhart struggles to find her way on the biggest flight of her life. It’s in those moments, high above the never-ending ocean we get a glimpse of the guts it took to be Amelia Earhart. The rest is as flat as a school history lesson.
By Rebecca Barry Hill, Flicks.co.nz
really good about time something like this came out
Hilary Swank is very true to her character but like most bioflicks when the film starts drag you get uncomfortable in your seat an it's hard to pay attention.
Slight disagreement with the "Flicks" review. I thought this was a good movie, showing how some with the drive to achieve or win, usually have other frailties, but their sense of drive over-rides all. In Amelia's case, a balance in her personal life arrived too late. Some history, some personality and some ambition.
A perfectly sound biopic, well directed and acted, about an admirable woman. It confirmed for me Earhart's courage -- not only in flying, but in insisting on living her life outside the conventions of her time for well-behaved females. The next generation of American women grew up in her slipstream.
Swank’s moving performance, the period dressing and beautiful planes all appeal, but dramatically it doesn’t really soar.
Most of all, Earhart wanted to be able to fly free as a bird above the clouds, and director Nair and star Swank make her quest not only understandable but truly impressive.
So a pioneering feminist in the hands of a feminist filmmaker should have been a perfect match. But like her subject, the filmmaker gets lost in the clouds.
Alas, excesses of any pleasurable kind are absent from this exasperatingly dull production.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 10th Dec 2009.
Release date: December 10th 2009.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
