Amelia

Given the source material and the fact that Mira Nair has occupied the director's seat, I had been expecting great things from this movie. Sadly, 'Amelia' doesn't live up to being close to those expectations. Nair captures the era very well, through the costumes, set design and music. The visuals, especially the sceneries are stunning. However, the story at times feels contrived and at times more like a documented account of Earhart's life rather than a movie. The pacing is quite slow. However, unlike many others, I didn't find it this one to be a snoozefest but that may be because of my previous knowledge of Amelia Earhart and because of a particular performance which I'll come back to a little later on. It's quite disappointing that Nair didn't demonstrate much back story on Amelia, like how did she make it this far in what was then considered a man's world and how she developed her passion for flying. Despite its flaws, the last fifteen to twenty minutes were well-executed. Here, Nair very subtly builds tension and while the viewer knows what it going to happen, they are in suspense as they anticipate Amelia and her passenger's fate. Richard Gere is quite adequate as Putnam. Ewan McGregor is marginally better. But, it is Hilary Swank who steals the show. She is the force that drives this movie with a nuanced performance. I wonder why she didn't receive much recognition for this portrayal. Needless to say, Swank owns the movie.

Sorry, it's just not enough to have Hillary Swank look the part, which she does. This movie had all the historical ingredients to be a great film, and it instead falls back into the same old bland dialog and formula plot that sinks so many biography movies. This film is like a made for TV movie - paints a pretty picture and refuses to go where no man, or no woman, has gone before. Which means it's a whitewash of history. Offers no real interesting insights into this extraordinary woman - not even her mysterious disappearance. For once, why not just stick to the facts, and give us a slightly less glamorous Amelia, minimize the love story, and show what a truly remarkable explorer she was? How dangerous her flying really was, and the challenges she had to overcome, both in the air and on the ground, in a male-dominated society. This film touches on this, but rather than paint with strong strokes, it uses an airbrush. Not a complete waste of time, just average.

In the 1930s, Amelia Earhart was a pioneering woman pilot. She married a man who helped promote her flights. She went missing on the last leg of a round-the-world flight in 1937.

That's all I got from the movie, which is shockingly bad and instantly forgettable. Earhart was a national figure followed by millions, yet you'd never know why from this tepid film. While Hilary Swank seems likable as Amelia and does bear a striking resemblance to her, the script fails to make her the least bit interesting. The dialogue is tedious, the movie has no excitement or tension, and the director destroys any scenes that might have been emotionally compelling. Richard Gere has the thankless job of playing Amelia's husband and comes across as a completely dull fellow. Even the music is boring. What a colossal waste of talent.

Mira Nair brings to life the story of Amelia Earhart in Amelia. It stars Hilariy Swank, who just might have acted her way into another Oscar nomination and potential win. Alongside her is Richard Gere as George Putnam as her publicist and partner. The story starts with her emergence into the public eye when she tried to become the first woman to fly over the Atlantic Ocean. She does so but not alone, something she would later try to accomplish.

As her popularity grows so does Putnam's interest in his starlet. He wants her to be famous and to be loved. All she wants is to fly. Together they help make strides for female pilots everywhere. In the days leading up to and including the Great Depression, aviation was a primarily male dominated world, but that mattered very little for Amelia.

Along the way she becomes acquainted with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor), a pilot himself and someone that Amelia becomes very close to. Amelia's free spirited nature and desire to be set free come in the way with her feelings for Putnam, and as well as Vidal.

The film is not just about one person, but about a person's dreams, desires, and ambition. Amelia lectures and speaks out for women's rights, advocating for them to follow their dreams of either becoming a pilot like her, or just living their life the way they want to. She doesn't want to be tethered down or restricted.

Swank gives a solid performance as the flying ace. She both looks the part and acts the part very well. I must say that I did not know an awful lot about Amelia Earhart other than the common knowledge about her, but I feel like Swank embodied pretty much what I would expect Amelia to be. Swank has such confidence on screen and is not afraid to let it all hang out there. Though her performances in Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby are more impressive, this is a finely tuned character she has developed and a very likable one. Gere too gives a great performance. He does a great job of becoming Putnam ever so slightly with his voice. It's the tiniest of inflections but it is effective nonetheless.

Nair does a great job of capturing the beauty of flight and the ability that the world has to take you breath away. I didn't think this was a visually stunning film, but a well constructed biopic that tells a story we want to hear. I was interested in how she would present her final flight around the world and I was pleased with how she broke it up into segments and didn't try to make it recreate things we don't know about like in The Perfect Storm. The mystery is still there.

Parts of the film are a bit dry, clichéd, and repetitive, but overall this was a nice film about someone who shouldn't be forgotten. It's a good story with great characters, fine acting, and is pleasing to watch.

Nice attempt to capture the feeling of the time of the flying legend Amelia Earhard, who was an important aviation pioneer in the late 20s and 30s, a time that relegated women to second class citizens in many respects. I thought it was a well done film but not a film for everybody-maybe a film for anyone who has ever had an interest in planes and the history of important people in that genre. Excellent shots of early planes and the roaring days of flying in the 20s and 30s. Sad ending, which could not be avoided considering the tragic way Amelia Earhard vanished on the way to a tiny island in the vastness of the Pacific ocean in 1937. I read somewhere that someone found a pair of flying boots washed up on a small atoll in that area of the Pacific back there somewhere timewise, that some folk think might have originated with the last flight of AE. There are thousands of small islands in the Pacific, but not much where AE was flying, according to what I have read about her. Well, all in all, a film for history buffs and aviation fans, not for everybody, but not bad at all if you like that type of thing.People were not the same back then and I think the film strives to capture the way people were, and perhaps now, they appears stuffy, but I think they were that way.