‘Sully’ Review: Maybe watch ‘Flight’ instead
I admit it. I have probably been spoiled by the onslaught of action movies I‘ve consumed in the past couple of weeks to actually appreciate drama. But when it arrives with the packaged promise of a p̶l̶a̶n̶e̶ ̶c̶r̶a̶s̶h̶ airplane related incident, it did build my expectations.
With a runtime of 96 mins (not much for Director Clint Eastwood), a lot of which is spent on various people saying the name “Sully” to the extent that the film looks like a giant supercut of actors just saying “Sully” and how great a guy the guy is. But then its Tom Hanks, a guy who can probably play the role of an inanimate block of wood and still make you cry. And that is probably where the movie gets its direction. Without going too deep into the lives of each character it’s able to bring out the moral repercussions of a snap judgement and the PTSD that followed. Even Aaron Eckhart as co-pilot Jeff Skiles comes off as the Yang to Sully’s Yin showcasing the depth of a bond formed over the traumatic incident.
The movie revolves around the miraculuous water landing of US Airways Flight 1549 back in 2009 where all 155 on board survived. Sadly the incident is inexplicably shown thrice. THRICE! And not in some Roshomon-esque way where there’s a new insight in each iteration. More like fillers to pad the screen time.
And that’s where Sully kinda goes nose down. There’s no actual conflict through the movie. It’s more like an episode of Air Crash Investigation where they show reenactments of the incident. A documentation of an event. Even the National Transportation Safety Board(NTSB) panel members come off as a moustache twirling villains for most of the movie. Now I’m not asking for a Jack Nicholson “You can’t handle the truth!” level pants-shittingly intense drama, but some excitement doesn’t hurt. Hence most of the movie rests on the acting chops of Tom ‘Gonna-make-you-cry’ Hanks and Aaron Eckhart’s immaculate moustache.
Another aspect which did bother me was the not-even-trying-to-be subtle 9/11 propaganda. Maybe propaganda might be too harsh and inappropriate a word for it, but look at all the signs. From the release date falling on the 9th of September, the constant nightmares in the movie of an airplane crashing into buildings and a line which refers to both 9/11 and the 2008 financial meltdown. The setup was probably done with the intent of showcasing the need and the glory of a miracle, but sadly reeks of an oscar-bait gimmick.
Now even though 2012’s Flight was a completely different movie with more stress on alcoholism rather than the shared plot about a pilot using his experience to save the lives on board…I would still choose it over Sully, Which just turned out be a feel good Tom Hanks documentary with NYC fist pumping in the air for ‘murica’!
