Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

justbusinessthebook I was a little surprised at all of the negative commentary here. I found the movie's acting appropriate. It told a story without being judgmental. Really, who needs to know the reasons behind why Ms. Earheart had two guys on the edge all of the time. The reasons seemed quite clear to me. She was a free spirit and on the move all of the time. She did what men did in an era when women weren't supposed to do what men did, flying or otherwise.She challenged the limitations for women in the 1930's. Who needs excuses for that. And, she took a risk that would have won her big if she and her navigator had found that impossible island, and other factors had not played against her landing on it, instead of her disappearing into the ocean.Yes, I was surprised to learn that she had a navigator on board because I had always thought she 'died alone'.The story is told well. The filming, in my humble opinion, was cinematic and appropriately framed. I was disappointed to see that the film did not, apparently, win any awards.It is also a love story of great interest in the end.I applaud this movie BECAUSE it did endeavour to be FACTUAL instead of being on the edge of someone's perverted sense of fantasy or sexual voyeurism. I will be buying the DVD for 'my collection' on the merit of the story and documentation that comes along with movie...An interesting story presented in a manner that maintained my interest throughout... the stars in this movie all performed the characters well, mimicking what is seen in the real life clips that accompany the DVD. To me, that bears more merit than seeking to entice the audience through titillating explanation of Amelia's sexuality. There is enough of that stuff available in other movies. For once, a movie that concentrated on THE STORY and not the story the sexually starved of our nation would have liked to have seen???

Jim A. As a lover of vintage aircraft and aviation history, I enjoyed the movie for that reason alone. As far as I can tell, the movie pretty much held true to the known facts, for the most part. Some things were exaggerated, some understated, but basically factual, to the best of my knowledge. The vintage aircraft were amazingly beautiful. To me, anyway.For most people this will seem like nitpicking, but speaking of facts, the original description by jotix100 had an error in it. Gene Vidal was a director of NorthEAST Airlines, not NorthWEST Airlines (Col. Lewis H. Brittin was the founder of Northwest). In doing a Google search to find the source of that error, I found about an equal number of references to Vidal via-a-vis Northeast and Northwest. It's apparent to me that "somebody, somewhere, sometime" made a transcription error that got perpetuated. It seems misinformation usually travels faster than actual facts.

cougarblue You take one of histories richest characters and flatten out her personality, giving you the film "Amelia". So much potential in making a new movie about the life of Amelia, this film could have been terrific given the new information about her ill-fated flight and the evolution of computerized effects, but sadly Swank and Company offer us a meandering portrait of a fascinating person that cannot decide if it wishes to be a triangular love story or an historical account of the life of Amelia Earhart. Very disappointing was my first reaction while I waited for something other than the measured, even and unemotional acting by Swank, along with Gere's lame attempt to portray the swarmy, manipulative Mr Putnam. The only drama in this two hour film is contained in the last 5 minutes as Amelia tries to communicate with the Navy ship which was to assist the round-the-world flight with navigation, as her fuel supply is running out. Even that part could have been played with more intensity. The older films on this rich character do justice to her life and accomplishments, this movie does not. Oh, BTW, Swanks teeth look like a refrigerator showroom baring testament to the work of a fine orthodontist.

Roland E. Zwick Even two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank can't elevate "Amelia" much above the level of the standard great-person-of-history biopic. Amelia Earhart was, of course, the pioneer aviator who became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, and who, in 1937, met a tragic fate when she and her navigator Fred Noonan (Christopher Eccleston) disappeared over the Pacific in a failed attempt to be the first pilot to ever circumnavigate the globe.Swank certainly looks the part of the famed flyer, and she has the voice and mannerisms down pat as well. The problem is that the screenplay by Ronald Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan (from the novels "East to the Dawn" and "The Sound of Wings") doesn't provide the actress with the opportunity to delve much beneath the surface of the character. For all Swank's efforts at mimicry, Earhart stubbornly remains a cardboard cutout of a woman who refused to allow the society around her to dictate what she, or any woman for that matter, could and could not do, and who lived life to the fullest, even though she wound up paying the ultimate price for it.Even her long-term relationship with and eventual marriage to book publisher George Putnam (Richard Gere) and her brief dalliance with pilot and future Federal Aviation administrator Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor) come across as standard-issue melodrama, executed without flair or passion.The movie is at its most interesting when it's concentrating on the early history of aviation and the part Earhart herself played in it. A brief scene in which Earhart takes Eleanor Roosevelt on a night-flight over Washington D.C. is a rare moment when the movie itself actually manages to soar above the earthbound histrionics. And the flight scenes themselves are, as one would expect, visually stimulating and emotionally captivating.But low-wattage performances, pedestrian direction (a real shock coming from the highly gifted Mira Nair) and conventional storytelling (it's all done in the form of a huge book-ended flashback, of course) keep "Amelia" from truly taking flight.