The Aviator (1985)

As Good As It Gets

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I saw this movie on TV and liked it. As a pilot of some experience I was more interested in the aircraft and flying than rest of the story. The portrayal of early air mail operations is a good one, even to the pilot's notes. Jeppeson charts had not yet been published and each pilot had his own notes, which were shared with other pilots. It's easy to forgive the film makers for using a 1930's Stearman airplane instead of a 1920's DH4. I'm not familiar with the air mail route numbers but CAM 5 (which appears on the side of the plane) might well have been correct for that route. The crash itself was the correct choice: don't stretch the glide and go between the tees to shear off the wings. Aviation movies are almost never this accurate. The only thing about the movie that didn't ring true, aviation wise, was that before leaving Boise, he didn't perform a pre-flight inspection of the aircraft. Not doing this after work had been done on the plane was very serious pilot error. He would have seen the oil leak and avoided the crash.

Few people know that Christopher Reeve was also an aviation enthusiast who had his own Beechcraft Baron. And he transferred that enthusiasm to his screen persona, an ex WW1 pilot who, scarred by an incident, goes on to flying mail planes in the early 1920s.Roseanne Arquette played the spoiled rich girl who becomes his first passenger.They crash land in the Nevada mountains and the rest of the movie concerns their survival and both of their personal transformations. If you'd like to get a good idea about the birth of commercial flying I'd recommend the movie.

Watching Christopher Reeve play totally against type. After years of playing a mild mannered, hero type, He decides to play the anti-hero. The Reeves and Arquette are an unlikely pairing. At first, her character appears to have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Reeves does a good job playing the irritated grownup with a spoiled brat.This looks like a good TV movie, made for the small screen. However, the movie has some heart felt moments. And, it is worth watching, if for no other reason, to watch Reeve not play Superman. This is one of Reeve's best "non Superman" performances; if only it could have been in a better picture. But, This movie does have some pretty good moments.

Chris Reeves's legacy will always be Superman, but he proves here that he was a fine actor who could really nail his character. He does a great job as an introverted, bitter pilot. The other reviewer is correct that Rosanna Arquette is annoying; however, she's not at all the worst part of the movie. If anything is annoying, it's the painfully inaccurate portrayal of wolves. Look, filmmakers, wolves do not stalk people through the woods and attack them out of the blue. This is real life, not "The Howling." Other than those small complaints, though, this simple survival story is fun and engaging, and definitely worth noting for Reeves. 8/10 stars.