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Amelia is another
movie that's based on
a true story. And
like most 'true
story' movies we
know some of the
facts but not all of
them and we know the
ending. Everyone
knows Amelia
Earhart's ending-
she's on a trek to
fly around the world
and she disappears
over the
south-pacific. What
Amelia covers is her
rise as a pilot and
a public figure and
her complexities as
a person.
The star of Amelia
is Hilary Swank. She
plays the historic
figure perfectly in
voice and look. With
a little bit of
dental work and a
decent make-up job
she looks so close
to Amelia that it's
almost scary. Her
supporting cast with
Richard Gere, Ewan
McGregor, and
Christopher
Eccleston are all
amazing actors but
in this movie only
Eccleston had a good
performance. Gere
and McGregor were
startlingly dry
compared to how good
Swank was as Amelia.
Director Mira Nair
is a great
director. Amelia is
one of the more
beautiful films that
I've ever seen. But
she failed to get
the same beauty out
of her characters
and her story that
she got in her
visuals. The story
itself feels like a
bad romance novel
version of the true
story, taking subtle
liberties in the
story that nobody
could possibly know
but the people
there. Poor Frank
Noonan was known as
a drunk but they
made him into an
super-jerk by
putting the moves on
Amelia the day
before they died.
That poor guy died
too and even though
he wasn't the
historical figure
that Amelia was it's
hardly appropriate
to highlight
something like this.
There's a general
rule with something
like this- if it
happened in the
1700's or earlier
you can stretch
something like this,
but when it happened
in the 1900's you
can't really stretch
something like this.
The other thing that
we hear about is an
affair that happened
between Amelia and
Gene Vidal. This
alleged affair is
claimed by writer
Gore Vidal. Gene
Vidal's son. Maybe
it happened, maybe
it didn't, but when
it's only claimed by
one source and the
source was a little
boy at the time, it
hardly seems
appropriate to
include it in the
movie. Plus, it
really didn't add
anything to it. The
story in Amelia was
terrible and
lifeless and some of
the actors
contributed to that.
It makes the movie
hard to watch and
longer than it
needed. The ending
is particularly awful
and feels like an
A&E reenactment
instead of climax
moment in a huge
budget movie.
Amelia's bonus
features are pretty
predictable. Making
of feature some
pieces on Amelia,
and commentary are
the highlights.
They're not great
but they're decent
enough. None of them
are features you're
going to watch more
than once.
Amelia could have
been better than it
was. It was doomed
by a horrible
script, too many
pointless liberties,
and being
passionless and
lifeless. They made
one of the most
historical figures
in history and
centered her in a
boring movie. Mira
Nair can direct and
there's beauty on
the screen at all
times but it fails
to connect with the
viewer in any real
way. It's a movie
that can be watched
at least once but
it's not a must-see
film.
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