Amelia : Movie Review

WHAT’S IT ABOUT
Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank) flies around a lot. Yeah, so does Brittany Spears. Thing is, this is back in the 1930s, when flying was a big deal and lady fliers were something special. So Amelia grabs a lot of headlines – thanks in large part to her publicist and later husband George Putnam (Richard Gere).

But she’s too free-spirited to embrace the commercial and advertising sides of her career. She’s too free-spirited to embrace just one man either, and spends a fair amount of her time on the ground having an affair with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor), father of Gore. But the sky is always calling…

 

WHAT’S THE BUZZ
Being famous for flying is like being famous for solving the Rubik’s Cube; a big deal at the time, not quite such a big deal now. Even back in the 1930s the thrill of Amelia Earhart’s achievements came from wondering if she was going to make it or not, so once you know that she did – right up until that last flight where she didn’t – her flights become about as exciting as a sporting event where you know who wins.

This could still have been an interesting biopic despite that, but instead it feels like one of those authorised efforts where all the interesting – read: sleazy – material is glossed over.

You would think there’d be some link drawn between her urge to be free in the sky and her desire not to be tied down by a man on the ground, but instead her affair is all about feeling guilty and going back to your one true love. Way to go, Christian morality! Also: boring. As is pretty much this whole film.

WATCH OUT FOR
A lot of old timey-planes flying around. Seeing those flying chicken coops lurch around is one of the few times in the film where the scale of Amelia’s achievements really does come across.

RATING : 2 / 5