Hanks soars in true-life tale
For his 35th big screen directorial outing, movie icon Clint Eastwood presents his take on a dramatic truelife tale that’s ripe for the cinematic treatment.
The 86-year-old got fellow acting royalty Tom Hanks on board to play American pilot – and hero – Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, who made global headlines back in January 2009 by landing his plane on New York’s Hudson River after a flock of geese disabled both engines, saving all 155 passengers and crew.
Inexperienced writer Todd Komarnicki (Perfect Stranger) adapts Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow’s book Highest Duty and the biopic-of-sorts gets off to an eye-opening start with a dramatic scene of what could have happened if Flight 1549 had plummeted to the city below.
Touches like that add an element of unpredictability to what is a story many will be very familiar with – along with the intense National Transportation Safety Board investigation into Sully and first officer Jeff Skiles’ (Aaron Eckhart) response to the terrifying scenario they found themselves in.
Eastwood does a fine job showcasing how Sully was lauded as a hero by the New York public and treated with accusatory suspicion by those leading the enquiry.
Hanks is even more impressive in front of the camera as he perfectly captures the reluctant, selfless hero (“we all did it”) suffering from PTSD–like nightmares; his eyes are frequently riddled with tension and reflection and his masterclass peaks with the internal emotion he produces when Sully is told everyone has survived the crash.
Eckhart does accomplished, likeable work too as Sully’s loyal, straight-talking friend and partner and the strong acting across the board is only let down by Laura Linney, playing Sully’s wife Lorraine.
It’s not really the talented Mystic River star’s fault; she’s saddled with miniscule material from Komarnicki that sees her spout concern on the phone during barely any screen time – and never share a scene directly opposite Hanks.
But if not every character is fully fleshed out, the miraculous river crash itself is shot with precision and style by Eastwood. The re-enactment is shown from pre-take-off to post-impact rescue and Eastwood has every angle covered; cockpit, passengers, onlookers, external air shots.
While there’s no escaping the lack of dramatic tension as we know beforehand that everyone survives, Eastwood never leaves us in any doubt how terrifying the experience must have been for everyone on-board.
The river rescue is arguably even more scary as the plane fills with water and passengers jump into the ice-cold water below.
Sully is well-made filmmaking that’s faithful to its remarkable source material with another top turn from Hanks – but falls short of vintage Eastwood.