AERONAUTS BLOW HOT AND COLD

EDDIE REDMAYNE and Felicity Jones, who shone in 2014’s The Theory Of Everything, are reunited in The Aeronauts (PG, HHHII) a tale of Victorian balloonists that is ‘inspired by true events’, but is 50 per cent hot air. Redmayne plays James Glaisher, the watchmaker’s son who became a pioneering meteorologist. He believed that the weather could be predicted, and if only he could get high above the earth’s surface, he could collect data to convince the cynical, bewhiskered crusties at the Royal Society.

In real life, his ascents to study the atmosphere were made with a lavishly bearded aeronaut called Henry Coxwell.

Here, poor Coxwell is jettisoned in favour of fragrant, flamboyant and indeed fictitious Amelia Rennes (Jones), a kind of Annie Oakley of the skies.

Director Tom Harper (whose credits include last year’s excellent Wild Rose) does a fine job of choreographing the airborne scenes in particular; some of George Steel’s cinematography is genuinely superb.

But even though it benefits from the big screen, this familyfriendly film feels more suited to a cosy Sunday afternoon in front of the telly.

ANOTHER true story, that of Detroit-born car maker John DeLorean, gets an airing in Driven ( 15, HHIII). It’s certainly a heck of a tale.

DeLorean (Lee Pace) had a glittering career at General Motors before setting up on his own to design and manufacture the space-agey DeLorean sports car (as immortalised in the 1985 film Back To The Future).

He chooses Northern Ireland as the best place for his factory, lured by financial incentives from the British government. But when he runs out of money, DeLorean decides to raise funds with a huge cocaine deal, brokered by his friend Jim Hoffman (Jason Sudeikis), who turns out to be working for the FBI.

Unfortunately, the film’s jaunty, comedic tone too often backfires, not helped by Sudeikis, who doesn’t seem sure whether he is playing for laughs or not.