Amelia is a pretty standard issue bio-pic. The story is told as Amelia makes the last journey with Fred Noonan to find Howland Island. Amelia Earhart was a pioneer of aviation when flying was still dangerous, when airplanes crumpled like kites, and only to be undertaken by adventurous men. Although, for a while women's aviation was competitive with men's aviation, since engines and machines even up the playing field.
The story is pretty much about the adult Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank), although we're shown a young Amelia become enthralled with flying upon seeing her first barnstormer. Earhart's accomplishments are pretty hit on this film. The first woman to fly across the Atlantic, as a passenger, winning a cross country air race, her meeting with and falling in love with G.P. Putnam (Richard Gere) who made her a celebrity. The film makes it clear Earhart was uncomfortable with that celebrity endorsing a cigarette brand when she didn't smoke, luggage, a clothes line, a waffle iron, all that was missing was a perfume. It's clear that Earhart was not only a pioneer in the air but in the area of celebrity endorsements, and that status chaffed at her. In her eyes, her accomplishments were diminished by having to be only a passenger on that first trans-Atlantic flight. Putnam made a her feel like a "white horse jumping through hoops" but rationalized that it was necessary to fund her wanderlust of the skies.
Also detailed is her setting up with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor) the first airline shuttle within the United States, again, for this business venture Earhart allows herself to be used as a figurehead to attract business for Vidal's airline. Earhart also meets Vidal's son the future writer Gore Vidal, who even at a young age it seems was proposing alternative lifestyles.
Earhart wanted to erase all doubts about skills as an aviator (aviatrix in the parlance of the day), that she was more ambition than accomplishment, and undertakes to circumnavigate the globe, which no man had done. Did Earhart undertake this expedition because she was insecure about the circumstances of previous accomplishments? The acting by all the principals is what you would expect of actors of this caliber, there's nothing flashy here, but then the script doesn't really call for it until the end with Earhart and Putnam promising to see each other soon.
Of course we all know the outcome of that last flight and the speculation and mystery it's generated since, but this movie doesn't rise up to the level of the mystery, or of it's stars.
The story is pretty much about the adult Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank), although we're shown a young Amelia become enthralled with flying upon seeing her first barnstormer. Earhart's accomplishments are pretty hit on this film. The first woman to fly across the Atlantic, as a passenger, winning a cross country air race, her meeting with and falling in love with G.P. Putnam (Richard Gere) who made her a celebrity. The film makes it clear Earhart was uncomfortable with that celebrity endorsing a cigarette brand when she didn't smoke, luggage, a clothes line, a waffle iron, all that was missing was a perfume. It's clear that Earhart was not only a pioneer in the air but in the area of celebrity endorsements, and that status chaffed at her. In her eyes, her accomplishments were diminished by having to be only a passenger on that first trans-Atlantic flight. Putnam made a her feel like a "white horse jumping through hoops" but rationalized that it was necessary to fund her wanderlust of the skies.
Also detailed is her setting up with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor) the first airline shuttle within the United States, again, for this business venture Earhart allows herself to be used as a figurehead to attract business for Vidal's airline. Earhart also meets Vidal's son the future writer Gore Vidal, who even at a young age it seems was proposing alternative lifestyles.
Earhart wanted to erase all doubts about skills as an aviator (aviatrix in the parlance of the day), that she was more ambition than accomplishment, and undertakes to circumnavigate the globe, which no man had done. Did Earhart undertake this expedition because she was insecure about the circumstances of previous accomplishments? The acting by all the principals is what you would expect of actors of this caliber, there's nothing flashy here, but then the script doesn't really call for it until the end with Earhart and Putnam promising to see each other soon.
Of course we all know the outcome of that last flight and the speculation and mystery it's generated since, but this movie doesn't rise up to the level of the mystery, or of it's stars.