Thursday
22Oct2009
Movie Review - 'Amelia'
Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 11:26PM | Amelia
Starring Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, and Ewan McGregor  |
Memorable only for the opportunity it has missed, Amelia manages to tell us everything about Amelia Earhart except what we might want to know. A great film can take the unvarnished details of an ordinary life and make them fascinating, so how can a movie about a woman so intersting and influential be so damn boring?
The film never goes deeper than the things you understand before you buy your ticket: It's the story of Amelia Earhart, who died trying to become the first person to fly around the world. Hilary Swank looks a lot like the character she's portraying.
The shame is that Swank is twice an Oscar winner, and was fantastic on both occasions (Boys Don't Cry, Million Dollar Baby). Almost without exception, though, Swank has been only passable or worse in her other films. How does that happen? You would expect a good deal more out her as Earhart; Amelia was one of the most important people of the 20th century, and Swank not only stars in this biography, but executive produced it as well.
But the film never, not once, concerns itself with why anyone, much less a girl in a boy's world, would commit herself so totally to such a dangerous pursuit, fully aware of the pitfalls. What made Amelia get in a cockpit the first time isn't terribly consequential, but what made her continue reaching for the clouds is. We never get that here.
Indeed, there is precious little motivation for anything. She marries her publicist, George Putnam (Richard Gere), though why they fall in love merits no explanation. Apparently, if you spend enough time around anyone of the opposite sex, no matter how fundamentally different they are, you'll fall in love. The same goes for Earhart's affair with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor), a society man with a shared love of flying. So, theoretically, if two people have the same interest, they're destined for a relationship, too.
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in Bio-pic, Hilary Swank, Reviews, Richard Gere | Print Article | Email Article | 1 Comment | Share Article
Reader Comments (1)
one of the joys i had as a child was a series of autobiographies/biographies in our local library. and, the one i remember the most was the biography of amelia.
i had looked forward to this film... great cast, good chance to do so much with a figure who still haunts us....
now, i won't go.
meh.