“The Aeronauts”– Movie Review

This week, I attended an advance screening of the new Amazon motion picture, “The Aeronauts”, starring Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne. 

Synopsis

When a meteorologist hires a hot-air balloon pilot to fly them both for scientific experiments, will they survive the hazards encountered in their adventure?

Story

Meteorologist James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) is something of a visionary:  in the year 1862, he believes if his fellow scientists can accurately and reliably provide weather forecasts, humanity as a whole will benefit because it will save money and potentially save lives.  Despite his good intentions, his colleagues scoff at Glaisher’s plan to fly as high as humanly (and technically) possible to take wind and temperature measurements, document cloud variations and record precipitation levels.  Glaisher encounters enormous obstacles when it comes to obtaining funding for his project. 

While at a party, Glaisher meets Amelia Wren (Felicity Jones), a daring balloon pilot who is well-known for her performances and death-defying acts.  He entreats her to take him flying for his scientific experiments for the weather, but she is reluctant for a number of reasons – not the least of which being a traumatic air balloon accident a couple of years earlier which resulted in her husband’s death.  Wren remains so traumatized by this incident that she has refrained from flying since then – in no small part due to the fact that she still feels partly responsible. But Glaisher is able to convince Wren to be his pilot by appealing to her sense of adventure:  his experiment will require the two of them to fly higher than anyone has ever before flown in such an aircraft.

When Glaisher and Wren finally set off on their voyage, it is a huge public spectacle – almost a form of performance art.  Shortly after taking off, their trip nearly ends before it can begin because they head into some storm clouds which causes great turbulence.  Once Wren is able to steady the balloon, they proceed, moving ever higher into the air. By the time they have reached 23,000 feet above the earth, the two mark the fact that Wren has now flown higher than any before her.  But as Glaisher insists that Wren soar so he can conduct further experiments, the temperature drops; the balloon and its passengers freeze once they attain a height of 36,000 feet. With  Glaisher rendered unconscious from hypoxia, can Wren overcome the elements to rescue them both? 

Review

When Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne take off into the wild blue yonder early on in “The Aeronauts”, you may be forgiven if the first thing you think is, “Will they join The Mile High Club”?  (Not addressing that one – trying to keep this as spoiler-free as possible) That aside, the film takes a few stabs at being something of a thrill ride – and not unsuccessfully – but it is ultimately a bit dull.  Fortunately, it’s relatively short (a little over an hour and a half) so the movie at least has that going for it. If you are a fan of one or both of its stars, then “Aeronauts” is a must-see; otherwise, it’s a must-skip.

As one might expect, most of the story takes place in the hot-air balloon.  From the standpoint of screenplay structure, the risk here is that the resulting film would be static, yielding the look and feel of being like a stage play more than a movie.  The way the filmmakers worked around this potential obstacle is by doing two things: flashbacks and acrobatics. Flashbacks are used to tell the backstory of the characters – both as individuals as well as how they met and became a team.  Typically, flashbacks are criticized because they can tend to impede the forward momentum; while that isn’t untrue, it does break up the monotony of watching these two riding in the gondola. 

With respect to the acrobatics, there are scenes where Jones’ character is forced into perform some rather heroic stunts in order to save both of them or to get the balloon to rise or change direction.  These moments provide rare times of suspense when an audience’s emotional investment can heighten, but there’s only so much that the filmmakers can do to make an extended ride in a hot-air balloon even remotely interesting or entertaining.  For those who want a film with a lead female character as the action hero, this might prove to be satisfying experience – but not much to offer after that.