Cate Blanchett does a pitch perfect job as Katherine Hepburn, one of the many Hollywood romances of Howard Hughes. Ms Hepburn was such a caricature herself, portraying her must have taken plenty of guts. It is a fine, outstanding performance.

Many people carry only a vague notion of Howard Hughes. We know that he was quite rich, lived a glamorous, flashy life as a young man and became a maniacal hermit in his old age. Pictures of a hunched, old man with long, white hair; an unkept beard; unclipped, yellow toenails and boxes on his feet come to mind instantly whenever Hughes' name is mentioned. This is the Howard Hughes we have become fascinated by. Yet this aspect of Hughes' life is barely dealt with in Scorcese's picture. Yes, we catch many glimpses of the demons inside him, and we even capture a few weeks of isolation, but mostly Scorcese dwells on the younger man, full of life.

Though Scorcese is often fascinated with eccentric, crazed lives, it is rare for him to give any reason for the lives of his characters. We can tell that loneliness helps to bring Travis Bickel, in Taxi Driver, over the bring. We see greed and violence begetting more violence in films such as Goodfellas and Raging Bull. But these things are only the beginnings of why they behave in such reprehensible ways. Preferring to allow his films to be questions, Scorcese never fully gives us answers. The Aviator, also, give us hints to what may have driven Howard Hughes to such madness, but it never fully explains his actions. We see hints of a protective mother, and surely his drive to control every aspect of his life helped him become obsessive compulsive. Yet these things are not answers, more symptoms to the overall problem. Scorcese is more interested in the behavior of his characters. The nuances of their actions, and the subsequent damage it causes. You won't find cookie cutters to make you feel better about life in this film, but you'll find a meditation on a brilliant, troubled man. If you care to dig a little deeper, you might be moved.