82% on Rotten Tomatoes
Chloe's thoughts: It's alright
Watch it if you: Are a fan of Tom Hanks; Are not expecting a big action-focused, overly-dramatic movie
Sully tells the true story of Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's decision to make an emergency water landing on the Hudson River when a flock of Canada geese strikes the plane he is flying. Miraculously, all 155 passengers and crew survive, yet while publicy praised a hero, Sully's reputation and career is privately scrutinised by the airline's insurance company, and Sully soon finds out that his entire life may be judged by just 208 seconds.
If this sounds familiar, it's because it sounds a lot like Flight (2012), which, personally, was not that great (but I don't particularly like Denzel Washington so I may be a bit biased there). At first, the concept seems similar, although they can be quite a bit different.
I think what struck me firstly was just how real it all seemed. The acting was not overly dramatic or anything like that; it was actually just really subtle, and obvious props have to go to Tom Hanks for being one of the greatest actors of all time. Seriously, he is just amazing in everything he does. I'm actually not sure if the movie would be as enjoyable without Hanks. Like it would still be a decent film, but Tom Hanks is really the selling point here. In fact, the movie may seem a bit slow and boring to some if it weren't for him.
The other actors did quite well though. For example Aaron Eckhart did a great job as the First Officer, but even just seeing little glimpses into some of the passengers' families, and even seeing the view of the radio operator was pretty good. Those things kept this film grounded in reality, and the subtle performances by all of them made it more realistic. The only thing not realistic about this film (which I hate in every movie) is the whole having-a-bad-dream-and-waking-upright-and-breathing-heavily cliché. It's really annoying, but it's just a tiny part of the film and I'm frankly just being fussy here.
I also liked how the film didn't straight up do a chronological story. Instead of having the pre-flight backstories first, then the accident, then the aftermath, the story dives straight into the aftermath. At the start of the film, Sully is already having PTSD flashbacks as the crash has already happened. You don't get to see the actual crash until later in the film, and even then, you only see snippets of the accident a little at a time.
I thought that was pretty clever. It allowed for something different, exciting, and allowed us time to get surprised. It also broke up the lengthy dramatic scenes and added to the emotional turmoil both we and the characters were feeling (I think I teared up at least five times in the movie).
Clint Eastwood directed this film and I haven't seen too many of his movies, but of the ones I have seen, some of them can be a bit slow and dragged out. This film does seem a bit dragged out too (even though it's his shortest film yet at 96 minutes), but it's not as bad as some of his other films.
So in the end, I thought this was a pretty decent movie. It was good, but not great. Definitely not anywhere near Oscar-worthy, although this year in movies is pretty bad so I think it would get nominated, depending on how the rest of the year goes. The film can be a little boring at times because you might feel like you are just rewatching the same thing happening again and again, but Tom Hanks and the subtlety of the actors and the writing really sell the movie, and I think the best part of the film is towards the end.
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