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Pilot Lite

Amelia Earhart has been a source of fascination for nearly a century. If not for her numerous historic firsts (first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, etc), then for her famous disappearance in 1937 en route around the world. She's been played on film before (most recently by Amy Adams in "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian"), was the subject of a 1976 TV-movie starring Susan Clark, and was even discovered in "cryo-stasis" by the crew of "Star Trek: Voyager". And now, over seventy years after her final fateful flight, she's been given a big budget biopic all her own in Mira Nair's stiff, unenlightening "Amelia".

As the title, Hilary Swank, all freckles and angles, is the picture of early 20th-century pluckiness. Decked out in flapper dresses and big hats, Ms. Swank's severe features and toothy grin serve her well in the role. She may not have the lankiness of the legendary flier, but the actress has no trouble filling her flightsuit.

It's unfortunate that the script, by Ronald Bass ("Rain Man") and Anna Hamilton Phelan ("Girl, Interrupted"), doesn't give her more to work with. Though it's culled from two sources (Susan Butler's "East to the Dawn" and Mary S. Lovell's "The Sound of Wings"), the film sheds little light on the root of Ms. Earhart's love for flying or her seemingly insatiable ambition. We are given all too brief glimpses of her Kansas childhood; her mother and alcoholic father are referenced but never seen.

The film, told via flashback from the cockpit of her final flight, takes off from Ms. Earhart's first trip across the Atlantic, during which she served as Commander but didn't pilot. We then see her begin a flirtatious relationship with George Putnam (Richard Gere), the publisher and explorer who would, after several proposals, become her husband. Mr. Putnam is credited as being a pioneer in the field of Public Relations and the film has fun watching him craft Ms. Earhart's celebrity image; she's seen hawking everything from Lucky Strike cigarettes (she didn't smoke) to waffle irons. Along the way, the aviatrix develops an affair with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor), a fellow flyer and father to Gore (who makes a playful appearance as a child).

The love triangle is played with a light touch. There's the discovery of a secret love note and a hint of jealousy but otherwise little turmoil among the three. Mr. McGregor is completely unused, flashing the occasional smirk and playing down his accent. Mr. Gere, meanwhile, could play a millionaire magnate in his sleep. Honestly, how many times has the actor strolled on the beach with his leading lady, wearing a white button-down shirt and rolled-up khakis?

Characters on screen are defined by the challenges they face. And, while I'm sure the real Ms. Earhart had to struggle for her achievements, the film paints her life as a series of minor mishaps. There's ostensibly a running theme of "don't let anyone tell you what you can't do", but really it doesn't seem like anyone ever did. Or at least, they didn't mean it. Early in the film, Ms. Earhart is told she won't be allowed to pilot solo across the Atlantic; later, she simply says she wants to. Her goal to circumnavigate the globe is met with fear but no real obstructions. Even a potentially deadly temperature drop en route to Ireland is solved via a simple change in altitude (see the far superior Lindbergh biopic "The Spirit of St. Louis" for a more harrowing take on the same problem).

Instead, the famous flyer is seen as a good-natured proto-feminist with a quick smile and liberal mind. She responds to a marriage proposal with her own pronouncement of self-realized independence; she re-writes her marriage vows on the spot during her wedding ceremony (the latter third of "love, honor and obey" doesn't quite fly with the aviatrix).

Hopping between aerial sequences and intimate encounters with her two men, "Amelia" is as choppy as Ms. Earhart's much-traversed North Atlantic. Some fun is had in a brief cameo by Cherry Jones as Eleanor Roosevelt (back in the White House after playing the President on TV's "24"), but otherwise it feels as though Ms. Nair is uncomfortable with the trappings of a Hollywood period biopic. Though the authentic aircraft and sweeping vistas are beautiful, "Amelia" skims the surface of a memorable character study but never quite soars.