Amelia

Amelia

Synopsis

This is a dramatized biographical film of the life of Amelia Earhart, the first woman to cross the Atlantic. But not satisfied with the fame she earned, she set out on another peril of a solo flight around the world. The larger than life pilot was America’s sweetheart, and she is torn between staying faithful to her husband, and her love affair with a fellow pilot.

Official Site: www.foxsearchlight.com/amelia

Singapore Release Date: 12th November 2009, Thursday

Running Time: 111 minutes

Ratings: G

Genre: Biography | Drama

Cast: Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Eccleston

Crew: Director (Mira Nair), Producer (Ronald Bass, Hilary Swank, Ted Waitt, Kevin Hyman, Lydia Dean Pilcher), Writers (Ronald Bass), Music (Gabriel Yared), Cinematography (Stuart Dryburgh) and Editing (Allyson C. Johnson)

The Trailer

The Review

“Amelia” movie I hoped would be a retelling of the fascinating story behind famous aviator Amelia Earhart’s disappearance of her last journey with Fred Noonan to find Howland Island, but I was totally disappointed as it offers no real interesting insights into her mysterious disappearance.

Instead the movie focuses more on the the challenges Amelia had to overcome, both in the air and on the ground, in a male-dominated society.

The biopic biography movie based on Mira Nair’s “Amelia” book, looks at things through her eyes and see the world as she see’s it. It tells of Amelia who believed a great sense of moral rights, that women can do just as much as men can do.

The movie has all the historical ingredients informative that glimpses into the life of one of the major figures in U. S. aviation and world history, but to me it’s like a dull retelling of the facts.

Although I learned a lot about this American hero from the film that I didn’t know previously, I wish they would minimize the love story and focus more on the truly remarkable explorer that she was.

In the movie things Amelia set to accomplish seems relatively too easy for her, when there should be more focus on the obstacles and conflicts that Amelia Earhart faced.

“Amelia” tells the true story of Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank) and her relationships with her eventual husband, publisher George Putnam (Richard Gere), and aviation teacher Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor) whose son Gore (William Cuddy) would be an eventual author.

The only saving grace was the movie beautifully photographed flight sequences which are quite breathtaking.

The movie is stunning visually but the rest was a mess, and I do have to give credit to Hilary Swank, who not only bears an uncanny likeness to the title character, also gave a believable performance as Amelia Earhardt.

The Good

• Superb cinematography
• Ewan McGregor’s acting stole Richard Gere’s thunder
• The movie will show you the women Amelia was underneath

The Bad

• Hilary Swank’s weird accent
• Richard Gere was a miscast as Amelia’s husband
• The chemistry between Amelia and George Putnam was lacking

Editor’s Ratings