Not excellent, but certainly better than its RT score would indicate

I first heard about this movie a few years ago. Somehow I totally missed it when it originally came out, but I kater made a mental note to give it a look and then just kind of forgot.

Perhaps I intentionally forgot after seeing the 21% critics score or the 31% audience score on RT or the 5.8 on IMDB.

Last night though I decided to go ahead and check it out, and you know, I'm glad I did. While I do think there are some missteps, overall I enjoyed it. I thought that both Swank and Gere did great jobs in their roles and the film is probably worth watching for the cinematography alone, shot in both Canada and South Africa.

Where I think the film stumbles is in placing too much focus on her romances, both with her husband and with the man she's rumored to have had an affair with. Like, frankly, who gives a shit about all that? One criticism I read said they turned the Amelia Earhart story "into a Lifetime movie," and while I think that's a bit overstating it, I understand the sentiment.

Still though, the movie is primarily about the flying: Why she loves it and her various trans-Atlantic escapades, both successful and unsuccessful. And that, presumably, is what audiences went to this movie to see.

Overall I liked the film and thought Swank did great in the titular role. Amelia Earhart deserves a great movie, and while this isn't quite it, it's still a worthwhile watch that's better than its various scores would have you believe.