Film review: The Terminal
Well, if Tom Hanks can pull off a three hour film about a guy stranded on a desert island, he sure as hell can manage a 2 hour film about a guy stranded on an airport.
And he has. Managed, that is.
Plot summary. Meet Viktor Navorski; an Eastern European visitor who is
it off - there's something about these two men that turns everything they touch into gold. Some call it luck; I call it talent.
To be honest, I wasn't expecting the world from this film - I mean, just how good can a comedy centred around someone stranded on an airport be? Spielberg and Hanks or no Spielberg and Hanks, the central premise is, well, meagre, to say the least. But, somehow, somewhere, both Hanks and Spielberg manage to inject this simplest of simple tales with the magic and humour so often found lacking in modern Hollywood comedies - or Hollywood films in general, for that matter. Somehow, they pull it off to create a film that's not centred around a all-governing plot, but that actually tells a story - and a heartwarming one at that.
On to the performances, and I can be short. Hanks is magnificent as the the stranded Viktor Navorski; he has nailed the 'foreign accent', but then, we hadn't expected any less from him, had we? Catherine Zeta Jones does a good and toned-down job as the modern damsell in distress, and the supporting cast all do what they're paid for, and then some - especially Stanley Tucci is a joy to watch as the delightfully hateble Frank Dixon, the head of the airport up for promotion.
Besides that, John Williams works his butt off to create a friendly, familiar ambience through his score, and the Director of Photography Janusz Kaminski does a breathtaking job, yet again - it's really no wonder he's Spielberg's regular DoP.
What especially makes this film worth watching is the comedy - it feels good to finally laugh at something that has nothing at all to do with fart jokes or disabled people. This is a character-driven and story-driven comedy, which doesn't depend on stand-alone situations but on the quality of the screenplay. That, at the least, is commendable, and at the most (as is the case here), results in a genuinely funny (and sometimes even laugh-out-loud funny) and utterly lovable film.
A 71 out of 100.
Cheers
And he has. Managed, that is.
Plot summary. Meet Viktor Navorski; an Eastern European visitor who is
| forced to become a resident of a New York airport terminal when a war breaks out and erases his country from the map, thereby voiding his passport. While there he befriends the airport staff and I think I won't spoil anything when I say he falls in love with a flight attendant in distress. If memory serves, this is the fourth paring of the two wonderboys of Hollywood, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, and, after the succes of Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan and Catch Me If You Can they, yet again, pull |  |
To be honest, I wasn't expecting the world from this film - I mean, just how good can a comedy centred around someone stranded on an airport be? Spielberg and Hanks or no Spielberg and Hanks, the central premise is, well, meagre, to say the least. But, somehow, somewhere, both Hanks and Spielberg manage to inject this simplest of simple tales with the magic and humour so often found lacking in modern Hollywood comedies - or Hollywood films in general, for that matter. Somehow, they pull it off to create a film that's not centred around a all-governing plot, but that actually tells a story - and a heartwarming one at that.
On to the performances, and I can be short. Hanks is magnificent as the the stranded Viktor Navorski; he has nailed the 'foreign accent', but then, we hadn't expected any less from him, had we? Catherine Zeta Jones does a good and toned-down job as the modern damsell in distress, and the supporting cast all do what they're paid for, and then some - especially Stanley Tucci is a joy to watch as the delightfully hateble Frank Dixon, the head of the airport up for promotion.
Besides that, John Williams works his butt off to create a friendly, familiar ambience through his score, and the Director of Photography Janusz Kaminski does a breathtaking job, yet again - it's really no wonder he's Spielberg's regular DoP.
What especially makes this film worth watching is the comedy - it feels good to finally laugh at something that has nothing at all to do with fart jokes or disabled people. This is a character-driven and story-driven comedy, which doesn't depend on stand-alone situations but on the quality of the screenplay. That, at the least, is commendable, and at the most (as is the case here), results in a genuinely funny (and sometimes even laugh-out-loud funny) and utterly lovable film.
A 71 out of 100.
Cheers
1 Comments:
Love Love this movie. Tom Hanks played his role very well. The movie was definitely not what I expected. I expected something boring rather with no plot. It was great!
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