Cinema Soldier

"Amelia" isn't going to break any box office awards this weekend. When I saw it Thursday at midnight, my friend and I were the absolute only two people in the theater. Everyone else was seeing "Saw VI" and "Paranormal Activity." It was kind of fun since I could be loud and obnoxious the whole time, but I quickly understood why "Saw VI" might have been a better choice. "Amelia" is the first movie in a while that I almost walked out on.

Just because Earhart is lost, doesn't mean the movie about her has to be. "Amelia" is aimless and feels interminable, though it's only an hour and 51 minutes long. I entered the theater excited to learn more about Amelia Earhart, but left confused, worn out, and angry. 

This should have been an adequate biopic. I didn't expect the next "Ed Wood" or "Schindler's List," but this film makes "Marie Antoinette" look good. My biggest problem is with how the script portrays Earhart. I say the script because Hilary Swank is not at fault here. She pulls off her lines as well as anyone could. The studio couldn't have picked a better actor to play Earhart. The problem is Amelia herself. She doesn't seem to have actual conversations with people. For example, someone might ask her "Amelia, how do you feel?" and she'll have a Lifetime moment, look up toward the sky, and proceed to monologue for a couple minutes on how wonderful the clouds are when the dew is fresh in the morning, or that her daddy was a drunk, but he's the only man she ever trusted. She talks a lot like a movie character from the 30s might. Unfortunately, Earhart wasn't an actress: she only lived in the 30s.

We see her say she's going to fly to Ireland, we see her become famous, we see her relationships and affairs, we see her plan to fly around the world, but we never understand why she cares to do any of these things. What is her motivation? Why does she have so many odd relationship issues? Moments are shown, but only at face value. This script, written by two talented people, Ronald Bass ("Rain Man") and Anna Hamilton Phelan ("Girl, Interrupted"), doesn't understand that Amelia was a real human being, not just a figure in the two books their script is based on.

The organization of "Amelia" is confusing. The story skips through different moments in Earhart's life, like any other biopic, but aimlessly. Everyone in the editing room must have been blindfolded. We see a snippet of Amelia's fame, a snippet of companies commercializing her image, a snippet about the depression, a snippet of her racing with some other pilot and losing, and snippets of her with her lover/manager George Putnam (Richard Gere) and their chemistry-less marriage. No one theme is given enough time or care to make it stick. Random scenes from her final trip around the world are spliced into the narrative, but I didn't figure out what they were until I was three quarters of the way through the movie. It's haphazard and unfocused. 

Hmm, what else. The cinematography is adequate, but long flights get repetitive. The film is lean on music, and what's there is unmemorable. Honestly, I really can't think of a compliment to give "Amelia." This is a mess of a film with no passion behind it. What the hell, guys?

If you're willing to sacrifice good storytelling and character development to see a couple re-enactments of Earhart's life, this is a film for you, but having seen it, I know even less about her. I can think of no greater insult to a biographical film.

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