Hilary Swank stars as Amelia Earhart and Richard Gere plays Earhart's husband, George Putnam, in “Amelia.” Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight.

AMELIA (Rated PG)

The fabulous aeronautic adventures of pioneering female pilot Amelia Earhart are the stuff of history, legend and speculation.

Though Earhart’s life and career came to an end somewhere over the South Pacific in 1937, the mystery about her disappearance remains a fascinating topic to this day.

This enduring interest remains fueled, in great measure, by a number of far-fetched theories about her vanishing act.

As a film project, “Amelia” faces the challenge of delivering an intriguing, captivating story when the eventual outcome is already known. To its credit, this biopic does not seek to sensationalize the mystery with any crackpot theories of its own.

The best thing that “Amelia” has going for it is flexible actress Hilary Swank in the titular role. For the most part, Swank has made a career of playing a wide range of non-traditional female characters.

Here, she physically inhabits the part of Amelia Earhart with a stunning sense of realism. With short hair and freckles, Swank looks like the famous aviator, as well as carrying herself with the same sort of determined, strong persona that evidently pushed Amelia into the top ranks of aviation pioneers.

With notable exceptions of flashbacks to her Kansas childhood where Amelia marveled at a small plane flying overhead, the film limits its focus to the aviator’s last decade, from the time of her first transatlantic flight to the final quest to circumnavigate the globe.

Mostly, “Amelia” is told in flashback, since it opens with the ambitious start of her final journey, accompanied by navigator Fred Noonan (Christopher Eccleston). From the hopeful beginning of making history, the story reflects on Amelia’s grand adventure of becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

Actually, Amelia’s first transatlantic flight in 1928 finds her as a passenger and flight commander with a pair of men serving as pilot and navigator. As Earhart launches her aviation career, she becomes linked to American publisher and publicist George Putnam (Richard Gere), who not only promotes her image in order to finance her exploits but falls madly in love with her.

Putnam and Earhart eventually get married, though she enters into this union unburdened by old-fashioned notions of complete faithfulness. “Amelia” plays up a romantic angle between the aviator and fashionable West Point aeronautics instructor Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor), who later on ascends to a high federal government post for civilian aviation.

An unabashed feminist, Earhart not only advanced her career in a male-dominated environment, but also encouraged scores of women to take up aviation and to compete in aeronautical events.

“Amelia” may be faulted for not exploring in depth the motivations for Earhart’s ambitions, but at least it delivers the undeniable impression that she was always incredibly courageous and brave in the face of staggering challenges and hurdles, particularly when she flew solo across the Atlantic.

Not without good reason, the American public came to embrace Earhart as a genuine hero, even as most people struggled through the bleak days of the Great Depression.

“Amelia” is at its best when its central figure is up in the air, attempting to set new records or to break the old ones. While she was adept at selling chewing gum, soap and her own line of luggage, Earhart shined best when putting her can-do attitude to the test.

Determined and resourceful, she could hold her own with any of her male colleagues. Though Earhart’s exploits were obviously admirable, the movie never really gives the sense that she was truly in peril, until of course the fateful last leg of the around-the-world flight.

The most intense moments are saved for last, when Amelia and her navigator Fred try to communicate by radio with the US Navy stationed at the remote Howland Island in the South Pacific. The tension rises as the plane’s fuel level drops and all attempts for radio contact fail as the Navy personnel desperately to try to help her find the small island to refuel.

“Amelia” doesn’t dramatize and overstate the mystery of the doomed final chapter. Instead, the impression is that the failure of radio contact with the Navy and likely faulty coordinates resulted in an ultimate crash at sea.

Befitting the era of pioneering aviation during the 1930s, “Amelia” has an old-fashioned sensibility of a grand adventure steeped in picturesque beauty. Earhart’s high-flying quest to circle the earth has her touching down in remote locations which are lovingly photographed.

One gets the feeling that the beloved female trailblazer enjoyed exploring the different lands as much as the endless skies. On this point, “Amelia” soars as an epic adventure, full of excitement and thrills.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

Sometimes quirky films with a talented cast make the rounds of film festivals, never to hit the big screens at the local multiplex. Fortunately, a DVD release can give these films the opportunity to be shared with a wider audience.

Such is the case with “The Maiden Heist,” a lighthearted caper film starring powerhouses Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman and William H. Macy in the roles of security guards at an art museum who plan to steal three of their favorite pieces.

These guards are not larcenous; they are resentful of management’s decision to send their beloved artworks to a museum in Denmark.

They concoct a plan to switch the real masterpieces with fakes, and all goes well until a mistake forces these novice thieves into a comedic escapade.

A clever caper comedy is made all the more fun by its great cast, which is supported in a great turn by Marcia Gay Harden as Walken’s controlling wife.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.