Last week the bio-pic Amelia, starring Hilary Swank and Richard Gere, came to DVD and Blu-ray. Fox Home Entertainment was kind enough to send us a review copy and last night I finally got around to watching this film.
I must admit, I had next to no interest in seeing Amelia. I am a bit tired of all these cookie-cutter “biographical” films that jump and skip around an infamous historical figure’s life, hitting all the major plot-points but lacking in the heart and realism that was present when said historical events actually occurred. I was less than surprised to find that Amelia was just another addition in a long line of these films.
Amelia is so blatantly aiming straight down the barrel at an Academy Award it’s actually laughable at times. Director Mira Nair has ditched her relatively low-key style for a grand classic period feel in this attempt at an Oscar and brought along with her writer Ronald Bass who is probably best known for penning Rain Man back in ’88 and then going on to write a lot of popular romantic-type movies (I’ll refrain from the term “chick flick” here). Of course though, as with any good bio-pic, you need some big names to back it up. Filling the lead role of Amelia Earhart is Hilary Swank trying her hardest to do what seems to be an impression of Amy Adams playing Earhart in Night at the Museum 2. Seemingly trying to aim low for a “Best Supporting Actor” golden statue is Richard Gere as Earhart’s husband, reporter and publicist George Putnam.
The main issue I take up with Amelia is that it just feels like any other biographical film I have ever seen. Nair has made a point to hit very particular historical points in an attempt to bring us into the appropriate period – even going as far as to add news reel clips, which unfortunately do nothing but bring you right out of the world Nair has set up; which is too bad because she has created a world featuring painstaking period-appropriate detail. Surprisingly enough though, the film moves at a decent pace despite being pretty dull. The aerial scenes were actually pretty dynamic – until they cut to a scene of Swank in the cockpit in which the fact that she is just in front of a green screen is painfully obvious, frankly, I was shocked at the “cheapness” of these effects in a film this large. I’ll refrain from commenting too much at the overall predictability of Amelia because going into any biographical film the audience already has a certain level of knowledge on the subject, however, I just feel like there had to have been some way to tell this story in a more dynamic way, especially since they had a completely open-ended way to conclude the film.
I didn’t expect much in the way of story going in to Amelia, but what really surprised me was the acting. Hilary Swank usually turns in a pretty solid performance no matter how good or bad a script is, but Swank as Earhart felt like a very odd caricature of a historical figure. Gere, who has been struggling to stay relevant over the years, just kind of meanders his way through the role of male supporting lead. Frankly, the only person who did a good job with the role they were given was Ewan McGregor – who manages to be a welcome highlight in a film full of sub-par performances.
The video and audio transfer of Amelia is very crisp and clean, I will say despite my lack of enthusiasm over the film it’s at least a very “pretty” film to look at. Special features are about what you’d expect. There are ten deleted scenes featured here and while I feel like they actually would have added some good character development to Swank’s Earhart they still didn’t add much more depth to the film. Of course we have the obligatory “Making of” featurette, and it’s about what you’d expect it to be. A few historical featurettes quickly detailing the life of Amelia Earhart and her final plane, “Electra”, round out the featurettes and are mildly entertaining, but are quick and generic. A collection of eight Fox Movietone news reels round out the special features.
I honestly for the life of me can’t think of much positive to say about Amelia. If I were to really dig down deep I would applaud the film in not over-romanticizing Amelia Earhart as a person as she participated in more than one affair as a married woman – but good intentions don’t make a great film. There was no excitement during the course of the film and the phoned-in acting made Earhart’s tragic disappearance completely mute. Ultimately, the cast and crew of Amelia just make it too easy to not even think twice in recommending passing on this film.
Special Features Include:
Deleted scenes
“The Power of Amelia Earhart” featurette
“Making Amelia” featurette
“Movietone News” featurette
“The Plane Behind the Legend” featurette**
“Re-constructing the Planes of Amelia” featurette**
Digital copy of the film**
**Blu-ray only
You can purchase Amelia at Amazon.com