REVIEW: SULLY
If Captain Chesley Sullenberger thought landing a plane where everyone onboard could land in the middle of the Hudson River was difficult, wait until Hollywood got a hold of his life story. Sully could have been a film about the (without a doubt) heroic actions of the captain of that fateful plane, but Hollywood hasn't been kind to real life stories in the past. But when Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks are the behind the scenes and front in center elements to the recreation of what your life is going to be remembered for, I'd breathe a pretty big sigh of relief.
Directing a film about an American hero and portraying a real life man who falls under heavy duress while being the captain of a large mode of transportation is not new territory for Eastwood and Hanks respectively. They're American icons in their own right, and whoever makes the movie about them better give them the justice they gave to Sullenberger in one of the year's best films. As opposed to the film I was referring to earlier, Captain Phillips, it's important to note that this movie is not called "Captain Sullenberger" or "Miracle on the Hudson." The former would've been too formal, the man Tom Hanks presents to us would surely want us to call him "Sully" if we met him in a bar. The latter would simply not be accurate: divine forces were not in play when geese flew into Flight 1549's engines that day. It was Sully who took the wheel and saved everyone onboard.
Not since Jimmy Stewart has an actor been able to capture the everyman as well as Tom Hanks, even when the everyman does something extraordinary. I'm not sure about a win, but his very subtle, understated performance as Sully is certainly worth a nomination come Oscar time, because the Academy hasn't given him enough attention through the decades. I know they weren't the only two who made the movie, and I keep referencing them like they were, but this is one of Eastwood's better late-career works because he focuses on the specific. We get little glimpses into Sully's life to I guess see him act cool under pressure, but I'd argue you could trim it, and at only 95 minutes I would say you could make a lean movie even leaner. Chronologically (I also enjoyed the film's non-linear approach) we get an extensive look into the seat-gripping recreation of the crash, the immediate aftermath, and the lead-up/events of the trial Sully and co-pilot Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) have to endure.
I was curious how they were going to create the conflict of this film, despite, of course, the idea of plane going into the Hudson as conflict. America was swooning at Sully's feet, so the only possible conflict could be the trial, which as I've found out, wasn't nearly as hostile to him as was portrayed. The man is shown with his flaws, an apparent reoccurring 9/11-tinged nightmare and some mystery domestic troubles that aren't really explained. Laura Linney is confined to a solely phone call performance, which is not only a waste of the great Linney but a waste of that character. Did we necessarily need to know an undisclosed (would she not give them the rights?) problem was happening during this tumultuous time? Linney says "I love you" and Hanks goes "I gotta go." If this movie had to be 80 minutes, so be it.
But with few exceptions, when you have Eastwood and crew piloting your vehicle, you know it can't be all bad (granted I haven't seen Jersey Boys). The real Sullenberger wouldn't want us to see him as a hero, and the film doesn't promote him as this genius of the aircraft. If this wasn't based on the Hudson incident back in 2009, I don't even know if it would've been made. Really solid, modest movies like this are a little hard to come across these days, and I hope they keep making more like this.
Rating: 3/4 stars
Directing a film about an American hero and portraying a real life man who falls under heavy duress while being the captain of a large mode of transportation is not new territory for Eastwood and Hanks respectively. They're American icons in their own right, and whoever makes the movie about them better give them the justice they gave to Sullenberger in one of the year's best films. As opposed to the film I was referring to earlier, Captain Phillips, it's important to note that this movie is not called "Captain Sullenberger" or "Miracle on the Hudson." The former would've been too formal, the man Tom Hanks presents to us would surely want us to call him "Sully" if we met him in a bar. The latter would simply not be accurate: divine forces were not in play when geese flew into Flight 1549's engines that day. It was Sully who took the wheel and saved everyone onboard.
Not since Jimmy Stewart has an actor been able to capture the everyman as well as Tom Hanks, even when the everyman does something extraordinary. I'm not sure about a win, but his very subtle, understated performance as Sully is certainly worth a nomination come Oscar time, because the Academy hasn't given him enough attention through the decades. I know they weren't the only two who made the movie, and I keep referencing them like they were, but this is one of Eastwood's better late-career works because he focuses on the specific. We get little glimpses into Sully's life to I guess see him act cool under pressure, but I'd argue you could trim it, and at only 95 minutes I would say you could make a lean movie even leaner. Chronologically (I also enjoyed the film's non-linear approach) we get an extensive look into the seat-gripping recreation of the crash, the immediate aftermath, and the lead-up/events of the trial Sully and co-pilot Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) have to endure.I was curious how they were going to create the conflict of this film, despite, of course, the idea of plane going into the Hudson as conflict. America was swooning at Sully's feet, so the only possible conflict could be the trial, which as I've found out, wasn't nearly as hostile to him as was portrayed. The man is shown with his flaws, an apparent reoccurring 9/11-tinged nightmare and some mystery domestic troubles that aren't really explained. Laura Linney is confined to a solely phone call performance, which is not only a waste of the great Linney but a waste of that character. Did we necessarily need to know an undisclosed (would she not give them the rights?) problem was happening during this tumultuous time? Linney says "I love you" and Hanks goes "I gotta go." If this movie had to be 80 minutes, so be it.
But with few exceptions, when you have Eastwood and crew piloting your vehicle, you know it can't be all bad (granted I haven't seen Jersey Boys). The real Sullenberger wouldn't want us to see him as a hero, and the film doesn't promote him as this genius of the aircraft. If this wasn't based on the Hudson incident back in 2009, I don't even know if it would've been made. Really solid, modest movies like this are a little hard to come across these days, and I hope they keep making more like this.
Rating: 3/4 stars
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