The Aviator (2-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

DVD fans had better set aside some time, because Warner Home Video is offering up the chance for total immersion in the world of Howard Hughes as created by Martin Scorsese and his fleet of cinematic wizards as Leonardo DiCaprio offers up his best performance ever, garnering him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in The Aviator.

Telling the early life story of Howard Hughes (DiCaprio), The Aviator begins with Hughes as a child being bathed by his mother, an image that is embedded into your mind and plays a powerful role throughout the rest of the film as we follow the cocky yet socially inept Hughes on his rise to fame, to his fall from glory all on his way toward his ultimate triumph. Hughes entertains the likes of Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale), living a life of parties, women and booze all while a heated battle for air supremacy reigns with Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin), Pan Am tycoon.

Scorsese takes the idea of a biopic to a whole new level with this film as he seems to paint more of a picture of the early 1900s rather than catching it on film. There is a reason The Aviator won Oscars for best Art Direction and Cinematography, this film is beautiful in scope and grandeur as it playfully entertains and emphatically seduces through marvelous acting and superior guidance.

Warner Bros. has taken all this into consideration as it brings together a hefty package of features in this 2-disc collection that will keep you busy for hours.

First off, disc-one contains the full-length feature along with an audio commentary, which is improperly labeled on the back of the box as a commentary by director Martin Scorsese alone. The commentary also includes film editor Thelma Schoonmaker and producer Michael Mann, while their portions are recorded separately it only makes sense considering it would be hard for any one person to comment on a film for almost three hours all by themselves.

Even still, with three people commenting there are definite gaps in the commentary, but I wouldn't worry yourself with that, the commentary is still good and worth a listen when you get the chance.

Disc two is where the real features come in as you get 13 featurettes, a deleted scene and a still gallery. The 13 featurettes span anywhere from 11 minutes long to the 44-minute History Channel feature on Howard Hughes.

We begin with an 11-minute making of featurette that pretty much lays out the production of the film as we are used to; quick, concise and to the point, then we move on to the bulk of the goodies that will be viewed by some as excessive, but each feature has its specific subject and they are all fast-moving, and before you know it you will be done.

You will find plenty of production features focusing on the visual effects, hair and makeup, costumes, set design and the score, which leads nicely into the featurette "The Wainwright Family - Loudon, Rufus and Martha" focusing on musicians Loudon Wainwright III, Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright and their role in the film playing in the big-band.

I can't go beyond this without telling you how amazing the visual effect featurette is, as the visual effects in this film are not your traditional effects, people aren't doing kung-fu in the air and taking on 150 enemies, instead the effects here should not be noticed, they are used only to do things the camera couldn't such as bringing old school planes back to life, reliving the creation of Howard Hughes' epic Hell's Angels or getting the Hercules to fly. The featurette is only a little over 11 minutes long, but it is one of the best.

History plays a large part in the features as well with a look at Howard Hughes and his role in the history of aviation and the earlier mentioned History Channel 44-minute "Modern Marvels: Howard Hughes" feature. Finally there are a couple of interview features, the first, a 28-minute feature with Leo DiCaprio and Alan Alda and the second feature is an OCD Panel Discussion with DiCaprio, Scorsese and Hughes' widow Terry Moore. This final feature discusses Hughes obsessive-compulsive disorder, which played a large part in both Hughes' life and the film.

Overall, the extensive and massive features will take you some time to go through, but each has a quality of its own making them all worthwhile, but whether you are a special feature fan or not, owning this movie is a must as it is certainly one of the best biopics to ever come along.