The Aeronauts (2019)
Directed by Tom Harper
In 1862, daredevil balloon pilot Amelia Wren teams up with pioneering meteorologist James Glaisher to advance human knowledge of the weather and fly higher than anyone in history. While breaking records and advancing scientific discovery, their voyage to the very edge of existence helps the unlikely pair find their place in the world they have left far below them. But they face physical and emotional challenges in the thin air, as the ascent becomes a fight for survival.
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What critics compared The Aeronauts to
Loosely based on Sophie Blanchard and other female aeronauts of the age, she’s a daredevil with spirit, taking the limelight in a series of breath-taking scenes reminiscent of Sandra Bullock in Gravity .
As James and Amelia ascend, the movie builds to acrophobic extremes as the land recedes from sight, suggesting a CGI-enhanced variation of the suspenseful climb in “Free Solo”; similarly, it borrows a page from “Gravity” as the pair careen back to Earth.
In the vein of films like Gravity and Ad Astra , The Aeronauts is a thrilling, at times terrifying, story of one woman’s strength and endurance in one of the most dangerous climes possible.
‘ Gravity , but Victorian’, is an intriguing pitch and, visually, The Aeronauts delivers on this strange, exciting promise.
It might not have the 3D visual grandeur of Gravity , but this is still a film designed to immerse you in its disaster movie spectacle - and making the tropes as easily digestible as possible is part of the experience.
It truly is a group effort to create this magic: Mark Eckersley’s editing by default tosses out the lulls, Steven Price’s score stays heroic and brings Gravity to the 1860s, and George Steel’s absorbing photography successfully transforms the sky from a space we would pay minute attention to into one we should give it all to explore.
When I think of hot air balloon scenes in the movies, I tend to agree with the master’s observation, as evidenced by the utterly stupid use of hot air balloons in movies such as “Yes, Giorgio,” “The Mummy Returns,” “The Ugly Truth” and “Men Don’t Leave,” in which a woman is “cured” of depression thanks to going up, up and away.