Two words that the new movie Aloha are: beautiful and elusive.

Yes, every shot of Aloha definitely was beautiful. The colors were vibrant and reflected beautifully off the actors’ perfectly tanned faces. Sadly, I also say elusive because that’s what the story was. Aloha was a dreamlike movie in its pacing and dreamboat actors—and aside from occasional glimpses of clarity, everything was fleeting and easily forgotten. Written and directed by Cameron Crowe, the movie follows Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper), a defense contractor as he is faced with the ages old conflict of doing the right thing versus getting a lot of money. Along his journey, he is joined by a new hotshot pilot, Captain Ng (Emma Stone), and his ex-girlfriend Tracy (Rachel McAdams). Herein lies the second plot—the ol’ love triangle. Except that there’s another husband in the picture, played wonderfully by John Krasinski, whom Tracy has two kids with but isn’t sure she loves (especially now that Brian is in the picture).

The movie races along, not giving the audience time to understand what Brian is really doing in Hawaii, nor does it allow any of the scenes or characters to really carry enough weight for us to care about them. The exposition is given speedily during the first 30 seconds of the movie, and if you don’t catch it, good luck to you. That being said, some of the best scenes in the movie are the ones in which there aren’t any words said at all. Woody (played by John Krasinski) is a man of little words and a lot of emotion. In a few meaningful eye glances and a letter that he sends to his wife, he is given more character development than poor Emma Stone’s in the entire movie. Though fewer than preferred, there are gems to be found in this movie—there is an incredible, touching, wonderfully simple final scene—but in this dreamlike mess, we just need a little more solid ground to hold on to.
The film is now playing.
May 29, 2015