Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Hilary Swank delivers an unforgettable performance as Amelia Earhart, the legendary American aviatrix who boldly flew into the annals of history. Richard Gere co-stars as her charismatic business partner and adoring husband George Putnam. Bound by ambition and love, their enduring marriage could not be broken by Amelia's determination to fly - nor her passionate affair with Gene Vidal.

This film received a pretty lukewarm reception during its box-office run and was barely a blip on the advertising radar. Overall the film is okay, but a bit uninspiring. It lacks any real emotional connectivity and the actors seem like their coasting a bit. The relationship with Swank and Gere is barely there, with no spark at all, and even the flying bits do little to help you connect with the story. Considering the fame of the story, I was disappointed how unemotional the film was as a whole.

Fox rarely disappoints with their day and date new releases so I was surprised to see this one looking a bit softer than the norm. I didn’t see this in theaters to compare notes on, but the principal photography seemed to be on the softer side with some scenes looking almost blurry. The aerial photography is good though with some beautiful landscapes, and overall dimension was solid. The DTS Master Audio soundtrack served the film well with a fair amount of ambiance and dynamic range when needed. The sound design wasn’t very aggressive making this a pretty subdued experience overall.

Fox includes some interesting extras for this one including most of the vintage news reels from the time of Earhart. You also get some production features and deleted scenes. A digital copy is also included on a separate disc.

Overall this was a pretty ho-hum release with nothing to really engage the viewer. A rental at best.