Amelia

Genre : DVD ( DVD )
Release : 2010/02/02
Price : $16.49

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With her lanky Middle-America looks and her toothy grin, Hilary Swank is a natural fit for the adventurous figure of Amelia Earhart, the world's most famous aviatrix. Amelia ticks through the major achievements of Earhart's career: her 1928 flight across the Atlantic (as a passenger, not a pilot), which made her the first airborne woman to make the trip; more triumphantly, her 1932 solo transatlantic journey; her marriage to publisher George Putnam; and of course the mysterious 1937 around-the-world flight that ended in her vanishing, with engineer Fred Noonan, somewhere near Howland Island in the mid Pacific. With Swank in her pilot togs and director Mira Nair at the helm, the project would seem to have the ingredients for success, but the resulting film is a truly dull, almost featureless affair. The big flights themselves have innate appeal, but otherwise the emphasis is on Amelia's love life, shared between Putnam (Richard Gere) and the dashing Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor)--who, the film clumsily keeps reminding us, is the father of Gore Vidal, seen here as a precocious tyke. A smidgen of Amelia's proto-feminist attitude is included, including her intriguing take on her marriage agreement, but nothing actually cuts deep or generates interest. After a while Amelia becomes a series of events, told with less excitement than the average documentary on the same subject, albeit with prettier photography. --Robert Horton

The movie was well done although too brief. The actor for Amelia was a close resemblance of her.

This film might take a while to lift your spirits. When I started watching it, I found it episodic, boring. There just didn't seem to be any sizzle, any synergy between the actors or the scenes. I could understand why, although "Amelia" looked so good in the trailers, it didn't have much box office success.

But then after taking a break from it, I started viewing it over again, in a less "entertain me" frame of mind. And the quiet sepia beauty of some of Amelia's flights and reflections started to draw me in. You might also find it to be better than it appears at first, if you give it a chance.

Just as Amelia's husband, George Putnam (played handsomely by Richard Gere) changes in the course of this film from a sort of shallow chauvinist-publicist to someone capable of a sustaining love - so the film as a whole gathers altitude as it progresses.

Hillary Swank does a wonderful job recreating Amelia Earhart - in appearance and manner. She glows with intelligent, unfailing good humor.

The bonus materials on the DVD are also well worth watching. They include some 1930's Movietone news reels, with Lowell Thomas reporting Earhart's latest triumph or trouble. There is also a fairly long list of deleted scenes, showing that the movie had originally included a whole subplot about Putnam's first wife (played by Virginia Madsen). This material all got left on the cutting room floor. Probably just as well, because that would have detracted from what was important in the film - Amelia's aeronautic pioneering courage and her on-going romance with her husband. However, the deleted scenes, along with the other bonus features, do provide some interesting biographical and historical context to the film.

It's a good movie, but I think I waited to long to see it. I expected more drama than I got. I was a little disapointed with the movie.

Not a very good movie. The actors tried I guess. They were bearable.The movie itself was badly flawed.

It did not move along smoothly. The old "Spirit of St. Louis " movie, of this type was far superior.

It was biographical but it wasn't interesting. The costumes, color,lighting, was great.

I couldn't help wondering how we won the air war in the Pacific with the technology shown in the movie.

To be quite honest with everyone I have not as yet watched this movie.

I have always been interested in the life and career of Amelia Earhart and I can not for one minute believe that this movie is anything but terrific.

You have a two time Academy Award winning actress playing Amelia Earhart, and a fantastic cast in the movie, so I am confident that this movie is well worth the price I paid for it.

My mission this weekend is to watch this movie.