The Aviator DVD Review (Leonardo DiCaprio) Empire Movies

THE AVIATOR DVD REVIEW

The Aviator
(Warner Home Video)

The Movie

The Extras

Reviewed by

8.5/10

Liam

I'm still bothered by the fact that Martin Scorsese didn't win an Oscar for The Aviator. When is this guy going to get a break?

The Aviator tells the story of Howard Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), one of the most intriguing figures of the 20th century. He made movies like "Hell's Angels". He made headlines by dating some of the world's most famous women, including Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett). He made enemies both in business and government. And most of all, he made airplanes and flew them. While some would argue that he was a genius, at the same time others would argue that he was insane. Nobody will really ever know what made Howard Hughes the man he was - but this movie goes a long way to give us a glimpse - and it's fascinating.

Thanks to this DVD, you can get an even better look at the life of Howard Hughes - and this movie. First, on disc one, be sure to listen to the audio commentary. In it, you'll get to listen to some great info from director Scorsese, editor Thelma Schoonmaker and producer Michael Mann. Then, on disc two, we get an even more in-depth look.

It starts with a deleted scene featuring Hughes and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) talking about the cost of human life. The featurette titled "A Life Without Limits: The Making of The Aviator" provides interviews with the cast, director and others about the making of the movie. Next, we hear from some Hughes historians in "The Role of Howard Hughes in Aviation History".

The next screen of features includes "Modern Marvels: Howard Hughes, A History Channel Documentary" which runs just under 45 minutes and provides some more great insight with a lot of the same historians previously featured. Also, we learn here that it was a Hughes-designed craft that first landed on the surface of the moon in 1966. This feature also briefly touches on the addictions and madness that plagues Hughes' later years. We get more about this condition in "The Affliction of Howard Hughes: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" and the following "OCD Panel Discussion with Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese and Howard Hughes' Widow Terry Moore" feature. Beware though that these features look more at the disease rather than Hughes and his battle with OCD.

Next, there's "An Evening with Leonardo DiCaprio and Alan Alda" which runs just under 30 minutes and features an interesting discussion with the two about the movie-making process. Following that, there's a couple of features first looking at the film's visual effects with the visual effects supervisor/2nd unit director and next the production design with Dante Ferretti.

Another page of features finds "Costuming The Aviator: The Work of Sandy Powell", "The Age of Glamour: The Hair and Makeup of The Aviator" and "Scoring The Aviator: The Work of Howard Shore" each of which looks at the work that went into creating this movie and were largely responsible of the film's multiple Oscar nominations.

The final page of features includes "The Wainwright Family - Loudon, Rufus and Marth" which looks at the musical contributions of the Wainwrights who played roles in three scenes in the film as well as a commercial for film's soundtrack. Finally, the features are concluded by a gallery of production stills.

These were all fantastic features, but if I had one complaint its that they seemed a bit disjointed. I felt they should have been better grouped into more appropriate categories. Instead, they seemed all over the place. Like I said though, this aside they were all nice features and were well worth checking out.

I can't help but agree with Alec Baldwin when in one of the features he said that Martin Scorsese is "as relevant and as talented as he was 25 years ago". That's an accomplishment for anybody in any job - but especially in Hollywood. I have a feeling that I'll be revisiting this movie (like many other Scorsese movies in my collection) some day soon - and often.

Features
Commentary by Martin Scorsese, Making The Aviator, The Role of Howard Hughes in Aviation History, Modern Marvels: Howard Hughes - A History Channel Documentary, The Affliction of Howard Hughes: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, The Visual Effects of The Aviator, Constructing The Aviator, Costuming and Scoring The Aviator, The Aviator and the Age of Glamour, An Evening with Leonardo DiCaprio and Alan Alda

Video
Widescreen Version

Audio
English, French

Subtitles
English, French, Spanish, Closed-Captioned

Release Date
May 24, 2005

Rating
PG

Length
170 mins.

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