The roar of the engine engulfs the room as a crash-landing plane flies overhead and onto the freezing Hudson River.
“Sully” depicts 2009’s “miracle on the Hudson,” where US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency water landing, leaving all 155 passenger and crew members alive.
The film focuses on the soft and humble pilot responsible for the landing, Captain Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger, who is portrayed by Tom Hanks.
Moving on from “American Sniper,” a film about an American hero who is haunted by the aftermath of war, Clint Eastwood directs a film about an American hero who is haunted by the aftermath of doing an emergency landing.
As we’ve seen with with movies like Apollo 13, Miracle and Black Hawk Down the humdrum of American patriotism makes a movie a sure-fired success. However, this format fails to land when it applies the Pilot Sully’s story.
Eastwood shows he’s able to get the top talent for his films by casting Tom Hanks. Despite looking 50 pounds heavier than the real-life captain, he provides another example why he’s one of Hollywood’s best performers.
Haunted by the events, and facing possible termination, Hanks brings out the inner horror of a person who is otherwise depicted by news outlets as a modest man.
Laura Lenny, who plays Sully’s spouse Lorraine Sullenberger, does nothing else in the film but support her husband by being overly-teary and complaining about a property bid. Other than the scene of Sully contacting her after he’s rescued, the film would do much better without her involvement .
Co-starring alongside Hanks is Aaron Eckhart as co-pilot Jeffery Skiles. He provides much needed positive relief in an otherwise droll film through his banter – complaining about a $5 hotel Snickers bar and wishing that they landed in the Hudson during the summer.
When the plane’s engines are hit by a flock of birds, Sully must make the decision of whether or not to make an emergency landing in the Hudson or a nearby airport within three minutes. While the plane’s ending is clearly predictable, it isn’t the initial focus since the events are told through teasing flashbacks.
Most of the film depicts the aftermath and the dramatic struggles Sully endures, from the major argument during that time: whether or not he made the right decision to land in the Hudson or try to make it to the nearest airport.
With 40 years of experience and having landed thousands of times, he has to tackle the issue against the close-minded National Transportation Safety Board or face an early retirement.
Sully encapsulates the modest American hero who must deal with the trying results of his actions. While he is portrayed as level-headed, Sully is filled with nightmarish visions of a 9/11-like scenario where the plane crashes into a building. Perhaps it was no coincidence that this film was released two days before the 15th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center
Despite the film’s droning plot, overly-dramatic characters and terrible CGI on the plane, perhaps the largest takeaway here is Tom Hanks’ performance. He makes the captain a believable and relatable human, rather than just primarily existing to be the living embodiment of American workmanship.