The Aviator (2004)

The critic praises Scorsese's focus on Hughes's glory years and the director's ability to capture both the excitement and the encroaching madness. DiCaprio's performance and the recreation of period glamor are singled out as highlights.

Calls it a sprawling, larger-than-life American epic with never-better DiCaprio and strong supporting turns, praising its complexity in balancing celebration and critique of individualism alongside vivid portrayal of mental illness.

One of the most fascinating and revealing pictures of Scorsese’s career, The Aviator is the story of Howard Hughes and a masterclass in how to chisel a hero out of a legendary 20th-century monster. The pressure that Scorsese inflicts on Hughes is spookily revealing about the director’s moral uncertainty, but you can’t but kiss and admire the craft of the film.

Scorsese's entertaining film is celebrated as a rehabilitation and fantasia of Hughes as a studly capitalist prince who soared on golden wings. The aerial sequences and abundant humor with obvious sympathy are highlighted as strengths.

The review praises the film's spectacular scale, visual flair and barnstorming energy as a glittering return to form for Scorsese, with DiCaprio persuasive as the eccentric Hughes. It highlights dazzling set-pieces and technical brilliance while noting it falls short of the director's greatest works.

The review calls it Scorsese’s best film since The Age of Innocence, praising DiCaprio’s nuanced portrayal of Hughes and the director’s shift into expressionist style in the later sections, while noting some ordinariness in the opening.

The review finds the film impressive in a movie-movie way and able to overcome weaknesses in Scorsese's recent work, with ferocious pace, humor, and DiCaprio convincingly conveying the character's shrewdness and petulance. It deserves acclaim despite some noticeable problems at its length.

The critic highlights Scorsese's ambitious recreation of Hughes' early career and Hollywood world, praising the scale, visual effects, and DiCaprio's committed performance while noting the film's focus on the subject's genius and obsessions.

The critic calls it a grand, impressive Tinseltown drama with lush production values, absorbing narrative and strong performances, but notes a niggling lack of depth in exploring what made Hughes tick and that it falls short of Scorsese's masterworks.

Highlights Scorsese's direction of the Howard Hughes story as a soaring biopic centered on ambition, obsession, and early Hollywood glamour with DiCaprio in the lead.

Commends Scorsese's first-rate biopic for showing how Hughes' audaciousness and perfectionism led to both greatness and reclusive insanity, with focused bravado in DiCaprio's performance.

Scorsese traces the tycoon's early career as a high flier and explains his germ phobia in an immensely enjoyable biopic. Despite shortcomings as serious biography, the film is an immensely enjoyable three hours with exemplary work from the cinematographer, production designer, costume designer and editor.

Praises Scorsese's gorgeous, beautifully acted biographical epic with strong DiCaprio performance and technical achievements, but notes an oddly distancing quality that keeps viewers from fully engaging emotionally.

The review finds it not the masterpiece hoped for but sumptuously mounted with magnetic DiCaprio and Scorsese's signature verve and style, delivering a thrilling ride despite not fully illuminating the subject's drives.

The critic praises the lively, richly detailed biopic and its visual panache for justifying the runtime and awards potential, but notes the emotionally distant central character may limit audience connection and box office.

The film is described as visually sumptuous yet disappointingly hollow in its account of Hughes's early life. The critic notes strong elements like bold color design and witty links between Hughes's obsessions but finds the overall momentum falters as the character declines.

The critic finds the biopic reverential but ultimately unengaging, with DiCaprio miscast as a lightweight Hughes and the film failing to probe the subject's psyche or earn sympathy. Scorsese's direction lacks the fire of his earlier character studies.

The critic declares the film blissfully perfect in every way, a beautiful picture with flawless performances, wonderful cinematography and extravagant mise-en-scene. Scorsese's direction, the lead performances by DiCaprio and Blanchett, and the stunning action sequences are singled out for particular praise.

The piece notes that Scorsese brings high-energy cinematic flair to the Hughes biopic, with strong support from Blanchett and others, and DiCaprio growing into the role. It complains that the take feels somewhat incomplete, checking biopic boxes without fully expanding on them.

The review praises the epic biopic of Howard Hughes for DiCaprio's compelling central performance and Scorsese's dizzying visual flights of fancy, especially the flight sequences and production design. Hughes' OCD and the opulent Hollywood recreation are highlighted as key elements.