Film

The Aeronauts

Name: The Aeronauts
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Released: 2019
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Tom Courtenay, Phoebe Fox, Himesh Patel

Survival adventure

A 2019 period adventure that pairs a daredevil balloon pilot with an ambitious meteorologist in a race to break altitude records and understand Earth's weather. It's sweeping, visually spectacular, and unapologetically romantic—the kind of film that luxuriates in grand gestures and intimate moments at 35,000 feet. For anyone who loves adventure stories that remember to include actual stakes and character.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love period adventures built around a real scientific obsession, where the wonder of the sky sits alongside a tense, claustrophobic chase for the next altitude record.

Skip it if you want a brisk, plot-driven adventure, because much of the running time lingers on its two leads' romance and sentiment rather than the stunts.

What it asks of you: It runs about a hundred minutes and moves at a steady, unhurried pace, with long stretches of calm sky between bursts of peril, so settle in early.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Around the World in 80 Days2004

A globe-trotting adventure with a similar blend of spectacle, romance, and genuine peril. Both pit likeable underdogs against the clock and the elements, underpinned by real affection between leads.

But The tone is lighter and more comedic than The Aeronauts, and if you came for genuine threat rather than charm, it might feel frothy.

Far from the Madding Crowd2015

Period storytelling that respects its characters' intelligence and ambition. Carey Mulligan's Bathsheba is as driven and unconventional as Amelia, set against English countryside instead of sky.

But It's quieter and less visually kinetic. The drama unfolds through restraint rather than spectacle, which demands patience.

The Ballad of Little Jo1993

A woman defying gender conventions through sheer will and nerve, set in a hostile landscape. Suzy Amis delivers quiet steel. Both films centre female characters doing impossible things.

But It's a Western and considerably grimmer in tone. There's no romance or glamour to soften the historical brutality.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Aeronauts

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Prayer Before Dawn2018

Both chart individuals at the outer edge of human capability, testing bodies and wills. But where The Aeronauts romanticises the ascent, A Prayer Before Dawn shows ambition's unvarnished cost.

A brutal documentary-drama hybrid following boxer Sor Yodtong training champions in Bangkok. Raw, unglamorous, utterly gripping—the inverse of The Aeronauts' aestheticism, but the same core: human ambition colliding with physical extremity.

But It's visceral and often uncomfortable. If you came for beauty and romance, this is austere and punishing. No narrative softness whatsoever.

Everest2015

A survival story where ambition and nature collide with devastating consequence. Assembles an ensemble cast to explore what drives people toward the unreachable, and what it costs.

But It's distributed across multiple viewpoints rather than focused on a pair, and the ending is locked in historical tragedy. Colder, less intimate.

The Hundred-Foot Journey2014

A charm-driven period piece about unlikely partnerships and cultural collision. If you responded to the warmth between Redmayne and Jones, this scratches a similar itch.

But It's considerably lighter and more sentimental. The stakes are modest and the film knows it—sometimes that reads as slight.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World2003

An ensemble adventure film serious about its science and its relationships. Russell Crowe's captain shares Glaisher's driven curiosity; the voyage itself is the story.

But It's dense with naval detail and period-accurate jargon. The scale is epic in ways that can feel cold compared to The Aeronauts' intimacy.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World poster

The Right Stuff1983

Three-and-a-half hours exploring the drive to go higher and push human limits. Spans aviation from test pilots to space, underpinned by ambition, rivalry, and what gets left behind.

But It's sprawling and episodic rather than tightly focused. The pacing is patient to the point of languid, even for a 1983 film.

The Current War2018

Competing inventors and scientists at odds over vision and legacy. Follows the same template of ambitious men driving discovery, though rooted in labs and boardrooms rather than the sky.

But It's significantly denser and more concerned with historical-technical detail. The energy is intellectual rather than visceral, and considerably less fun.