The Aeronauts is BORING
There’s no way to spin it, I was bored during the 100-minute non-IMAX feature, The Aeronauts. The film tells the story of how James Glashier (Eddie Redmayne) and Amelia Wren (Felicity Jones) make meterological discoveries in an air balloon, but the trip turns into a psychological disaster, as the weather changes drastically and affects their moral choices.
The film is presented in a non-linear storyline, alternating between the “present”, in the balloon, presented in the original IMAX ratio (1.90:1) that got its North American release scrapped due to Amazon Studios changing the film’s release model at the last minute. All of the other scenes, set in the “past”, are presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The IMAX sequences have great cinematography and visually stunning special effects (it looks beautiful in 4k HDR). There are times that the camera’s positions move like the balloon. It’s vertigo-inducing and very well done. The IMAX sequences WOULD look AMAZING in IMAX, but alas. We have to accept the movie for what it is. All of those sequences are tension-filled and beautifully shot. There are moments in which I gasped for air, because I was on the edge of my seat during those moments. One scene in particular has the balloon plowing through a storm is wonderfully chroeographed and tightly edited to feel MAXIMUM tension. When Glaisher hits his head on the balloon, you can feel it and you will say OOOOOOH. It’s fantastic stuff. The other scene that made me go WOAHH is when Wren climbs the balloon to get the gas valve open. The camerawork is simply superb and is one of the most exciting action sequences of the year. Redmayne and Jones both do a fine job on screen and you can tell they have fantastic chemistry together, it’s a shame that the characters themselves are badly developed.
The sequences presented at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio are supposed to develop the characters of James Glaisher and Amelia Wren, but they do the exact opposite. All we know of those characters is that Glaisher has a father (Tom Courtenay in one of his worst performances) who has Alzheimer’s and Wren has a husband (Vincent Perez) who commited suicide to save her life during a balloon fall. Wren is depressed, until she meets Glaisher and they “miraculously” decide to do a meterological exploration. All of those sequences try to explain what led to the expedition — but, instead, you get needless exposition of the characters’ own personal problems. It doesn’t deepen the story and only makes it slower. Supporting actors like Himesh Patel and Tom Courtenay are wasted as they are both flat and do absolutely nothing. It’s the main problem of The Aeronauts: while you want to get invested in the film’s brilliant IMAX sequences, because the characters are so thinly developed and have not an ounce of personality, you don’t really care what’s presented on screen. The runtime (without credits) is so brief (95 minutes), you don’t think it’s enough to deepen the characters and present exciting situations. The 2.35:1 aspect ratio sequences feel unnecessary and feel like they don’t matter in the story. The characters are supposed to be “developed” and all you get are pointless situations with them that amount to nothing and develop nothing of their personality.
And, as a result, you are stuck on a balloon with two one-dimensional characters with their own first-world problems dealing with weather elements. Yes, the special effects are spectacular, yes, the IMAX sequences are exciting and superbly shot and choreographed, but the movie doesn’t have enough excitement and “oomph” for me to recommend it. You spend literally half of the movie in pointless situations with the two leads to explore their first-world problems instead of deepening their arcs and making us feel more tension than the initial tension we feel during those balloon sequences. I can totally see why the film scored a Critics Choice nomination for Best Visual Effects, because the Balloon sequences truly are a spectacular visual treat for the eyes (and ears). It was clear that those sequences were made for IMAX, but Amazon probably thought the movie would flop. Fair enough, but the movie did receive some positive reviews, though it was clearly not for me. I was bored 65% of the time. And even during the IMAX sequences I was slightly bored due to the lack of development from the characters. Oh well, let’s move on to bigger and better things.
✯✯
