Movie Review: THE AERONAUTS (2019)

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Hot air balloon pilot Amelia Wren (Falicity Jones) agrees to take pioneering meteorologist James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) on a ride, with the intention of floating to a higher height than any human had ever reached before. The costume designs are fantastic, as is the production design. I thought the cinematography was excellent. While Wren and Glaisher are up in the balloon, cinematographer George Steel uses some incredible angles to shoot the action sequences. This is going to sound weird, but The Aeronauts was arguably the scariest film of the year for me. What I mean by that is that at times when our protagonists are in danger of falling out of the balloon my body reacted by clenching the seat, both with my legs and my arms. I’m not particularly afraid of heights, but the way this was filmed caused me to feel irrationally nervous. I loved it.

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In addition, this film sees ‘The Theory of Everything’ stars, Jones and Redmayne, reunite for the first time. I thought both were great in their own way. Redmayne’s Glaisher was a serious guy, who was very scientific. His purpose for this balloon ride was strictly to learn about the weather, in the hope that he could convince people of the possibility that weather could be predicted. Conversely Jones’ Wren was a showwoman, who loved to entertain a crowd. She was down to business once up in the air, but he confidence was very much at odds with Glaisher’s character. Unsurprisingly they worked tremendously together. I thought Redmayne was really good. This time it was probably Jones however who was the standout performer.
Most of the time when they are in the balloon we are watching their journey in real time; and it was thoroughly entertaining.

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I think writer/director Tom Harper got a lot of things right; particularly in terms of casting and visuals. In a way this was one of the best cinema experiences I’ve had all year. Had he been brave enough to cut out all the flashbacks and trust in Jones and Redmayne to carry 90% of the film I think I’d have been tipping this to be an Oscars contender. Unfortunately, due to the frustrating way in which it was written/edited, I think the entire movie is going to get looked over.

• Movie URL:https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/514921-the-aeronauts?language=en-US
• Movie Critic: AA