Film Review: Tom Hanks is Solid, But ‘Sully’ Never Really Soars

Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 9, 2016 - 1:17pm

CHICAGO – “Sully” is a solid effort from Director Clint Eastwood, but it never really soars the way its supposed to. It’s a good story, helped immeasurably by Tom Hanks low key performance, but it feels unnecessary. The problem may be that the story of the pilot who pulled off the so-called “Miracle on the Hudson” is so well known, the movie can’t really add anything to it.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

In January of 2009, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger US Airways flight encountered a flock of birds as it took off from New York’s Laguardia Airport. The bird strike took out both of the aircraft’s engines, and Sully (Hanks) made the split second decision to land the plane in the Hudson river rather than try to get back to the airport.

Tom Hanks is perfectly cast, and he could have just gone into his default good guy mode and gotten away with it – but that’s not what he does here. He goes deep inside to find the subtlety inside a character who easily could have just put a halo on his head and been done with it. Instead I was reminded of Hanks work in the film “Captain Phillips” which contained some of his worst acting and some of his best back to back. In that film, after Phillips is rescued there’s a scene where Hanks is being examined by the nurse onboard the ship. You see him slowly realize what he’s just gone through and he just collapses under the avalanche of emotion, and that’s how Hanks plays Sully.

”Sully” opens everywhere on September 9th. Featuring Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Valerie Mahaffey, Mike O’Malley, Jamey Sheridan and Anna Gunn. Screenplay by Todd Kamarnicki. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Rated “PG-13”