Eastwood’s directing, as usual, is efficient and crowd-pleasing.
After watching Clint Eastwood’s Sully, two things came to my mind. First, Tom Hanks can play almost anyone and you’ll immediately believe that person is the best in their field, bar none. Secondly, he makes it look effortless.
In Sully, Hanks plays Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who landed a jet airliner on the Hudson River in 2009 when the plane’s engines failed. Sullenberger’s quick thinking paired with his 40+ years of piloting experience saved 155 souls. The movie recounts the events leading up to the crash as well as the inevitable bureaucratic aftermath involving the insurance companies and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The film begins with a version of the crash as recounted in a nightmare. Sullenberger experiences post-traumatic stress disorder afterwards as he begins to doubt that he did the right thing by ditching the plane in the river. The NTSB argues that data from the plane’s computers indicate he could have made it to a nearby airport. The same data shows that one of the engines was merely idling rather than destroyed. But, as the best in their field do in the movies, Sullenberger argues that he felt differently. Publicly, he’s sticking to his guns no matter what. Privately, he’s tortured by his doubts as well as the sudden celebrity status thrust upon him.
Unless you weren’t old enough in 2009 or don’t remember the story, Sullenberger was immediately dubbed a hero by the press. His face, along with images of passengers and crew standing on the wings of the airplane as it lie half-submerged in the Hudson River, was everywhere. So, watching the movie, it’s hard to be too tense about the possibility of his not being vindicated before the credits roll.
Eastwood’s directing, as usual, is efficient and crowd-pleasing. The scenes involving the crash highlight how close Flight 1549 came to disaster. Of course, this just solidifies the fact that Sullenberger was, indeed, a hero. Hanks’ portrayal makes him seem a reluctant one but there’s no doubt he deserves the honor. To make a movie interesting, I understand there has to be some kind of conflict. The final showdown between the NTSB and Sullenberger may or may not be how it happened in real-life. But it feels like a scene scripted for a movie and the script takes quite a while to get there.
We don’t need the film to confirm Captain Sullenberger is a hero. We knew that in 2009. We know it now. So, it feels like anti-climactic to tell his story in a way that makes there seem as if it was in doubt. That said, the movie is worth seeing for Hanks’ performance. I appreciated that it also highlights the contributions of the entire flight crew as well as the first responders who plucked the passengers out of the freezing river. Sully wasn’t alone in his heroics. And, if a movie wants to accentuate the positive about humanity, I’m all for it. I’m just not surprised.
3.5 out of 5.0 stars
