There’s something missing about AMELIA and there lies the problem with this biopic that fails to fly above its clouds. Hilary Swank’s performance is bland, Mira Nair’s direction is about as ordinary as it gets and the story is nothing short of… toothless, afraid to be more than just nice. Amelia Earhart may have been America’s most courageous and daring female pilot; sadly this biopic however is anything but.
After becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, Amelia was thrust into a new role as America’s sweetheart – the legendary “goddess of light,” known for her bold, larger-than-life charisma. Yet, even with her global fame solidified, her belief in flirting with danger and standing up as her own, outspoken woman never changed. She was an inspiration to people everywhere, from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Cherry Jones) to the men closest to her heart: her husband, promoter and publishing magnate George P. Putnam (Golden Globe® winner Richard Gere), and her long time friend and lover, pilot Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor). In the summer of 1937, Amelia set off on her most daunting mission yet: a solo flight around the world that she and George both anxiously foresaw as destined, whatever the outcome, to become one of the most talked-about journeys in history.
What’s seriously wrong about AMELIA is that it makes the Amelia Earhart seem too much like a saint. It settles for love triangle mediocrity. She may have been like that in real life but if that’s the case, then her life probably should’ve stayed in the books and not in cinema because AMELIA doesn’t want to show her dark side. Ray, Walk The Line, The Aviator, most biopic would show the personal demons that the characters were facing and how they may or may not have overcome them. AMELIA is flooded with inspiring quotes, one wiseword cliché after another that she should probably start a church, preach from the pulpit and get it over with already.
I understand the intention is to empower women of any age and inspire dreamers everywhere to not let what others consider as your limitations get in the way of you and your passion. I can respect that approach but relying on that alone doesn’t make a movie great, Not to mention, AMELIA sometimes would have a subplot set in motion but somehow chooses not to follow up on it. There’s a character introduced in the film, a young female pilot just as daring possibly even careless as Amelia, George Putnam played by Richard Gere tells the young girl to not try to show off because he thinks that Amelia thinks she’s a threat. You’d expect that there could be some kind of rivalry plot that would come out of that situation but nothing ever takes place.
If you’re looking to see the great Hillary Swank of Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby, you’ve come to the wrong place. Swank does look like the icon but her portrayal of Amelia Earhart is uninventive, boring and stiff like a robot. Richard Gere is just as unimpressive, they’re both great actors respectively but for some reason they don’t bring their A-game to this movie.
Watching AMELIA for 2 hours is like watching a feather floating in the wind. Uneventful. To make things worse, there’s a few thrilling fillers in between the dreadful scenes that unfortunately pretty much takes hold the entire plot. But it’s clear to see that those fillers are just the movie’s way of trying to keep the audience from sleeping, AMELIA in the hands of a different director probably would be more worth noting but once again, maybe her life is better off told in a book than in a movie.
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