By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne who starred in ?The Theory of Everything,? and which earned Redmayne a ?Best Actor? Oscar, reunite in the action adventure
?The Aeronauts.?
Directed by
Tom Harper (?Wild Rose?) and
loosely based on a true story, ?The Aeronauts? is set in the 1860s and chronicles the chilling journey of pioneering British meteorologist James Glaisher (Redmayne) who is as stubborn and cocky as they come.
Glaisher believes he?s stumbled upon a groundbreaking atmospheric research that could advance his profession and hopefully convince the Royal Society of London that meteorology isn?t hocus-pocus, but rather a credible science. It involves soaring to new heights in a hot air balloon.
In real-life, Glaisher took to the skies over London on September 5, 1862, with British dentist and aeronaut Henry Tracey Coxwell.
Within 30 minutes of taking flight, they soared almost 11,000 meters above sea-level which is about seven miles high.
At that time, it marked the highest a manned balloon had ever scaled.
However, Harper who also co-wrote ?The Aeronauts? with Jack Thorne (?Wonder?) have taken a few liberties and flipped the script.
The daring and smart Ameila Wren (a fine Felicity Jones) is teamed with Glaisher on the flight. While they respect each other, they?re equally headstrong and before long clash in their views of how to make this trip a success.
Amelia (Jones) knows this trip is a big deal. She also loves the circus like attention that it has brought from so many curiosity seekers.
Her thinking is, if you?re going to make history, make it with style. So, her acrobatic antics that she performs before getting into the hot air balloon with her cute dog all play well to the raucous crowds.
?The Aeronauts? starts slow, but if you stay with it, the payoff is rewarding especially when disaster strikes the hot air balloon. Amelia and James?who seem to have a thing for each other but chill on the romance?must find a way to survive as the balloon rises and the temperature dips to freezing levels. They begin to suffer from hypoxia due to the thin oxygen in the air.
With James nearly dead, a severely weak Amelia is forced to climb outside of the ice packed balloon to try and release a frozen valve at the top of it so they can descend. It?s a thrilling action sequence.
The film?s flashback scenes are also used effectively to show why both James and Amelia are so passionate about this outing. Amelia lost her husband (Vincent Perez) in a hot balloon accident. Now, she must prove that she can make a name for herself without him and in a male dominated field. So, she?s not about to let James? ego stand in the way of their survival.
Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones should do more movies together. They have an undeniable chemistry that really clicks and makes ?The Aeronauts? soar.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays now at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 1530 AM and 93.1 FM.
Watch This Trailer For
"THE AERONAUTS"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of The Broadcast Film Critics? Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
