Amelia (PG)

A film about the first woman of aviation – who inspired millions of women to break gender boundaries and whose life was cut short in enduringly mysterious circumstances – should be the stuff of studio executives' dreams, right?

Well, apparently not, going by the new biopic of American icon Amelia Earhart.

For despite the best efforts of double Oscar winner Hilary Swank, who tackles the role of the plucky aviatrix with gusto, Amelia the film fails to take flight.

There's no denying the aerial photography is beautiful to look at. Shot in widescreen, the audience wallows in panoramic vistas of deserts and safari plains.

It succeeds in conveying the awe Earhart felt on her travels – something she often spoke about on her lecture tours.

The 1930s period costumes are spot-on. Swank's wardrobe encapsulates the slightly androgynous Earhart, who became the style icon of her time. And then there are the beautiful vintage aircrafts, not least a Lockhead L-10 Electra, the plane in which she disappeared.

The criticism has to be saved for the moment the characters open their mouths to deliver an avalanche of cliches. In light of the fact that the script comes care of acclaimed writers Ron Bass (Rain Man) and Anna Hamilton Phelan (Gorillas In the Mist), there's no excuse. Compressed from two biographies, The Sound Of Wings and East To Dawn, the biopic focuses on the decade between Earhart's first flight across the Atlantic in 1928 and her disappearance during an attempt to fly around the world in 1937. Her exceptional achievements are undercut by a stilted, clunky script and the insistence that "one should live the dream'' and "there's more to life than being a passenger''. Within 10 minutes, you're thinking, "Okay, okay, I get it!''.

Director Mira Nair, of Monsoon Wedding fame, should know better, but there's the scent of studio censorship that envelops the film.

What's most infuriating is the tip-toeing around the subject matter.

Take the limp love triangle between Earhart, her publisher husband George Putnan (Richard Gere) and aeronautics professor Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor), with whom there were rumours she had a secret affair. Neither relationship is fully explored, and the lack of intimacy proves unfulfilling.

Rating: 2/5