Sully Movie Review: Boring & Slow-paced, but Tom Hanks Stole the Show Like a Boss


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It’s not easy to adapt a biography into a movie—after all, we all know that no matter what you’ve done in your life, it’s never going to be as interesting as fiction.

Sully is one such movie that belonged to this category: it relates the story of what happened on 15 January 2009 when a plane landed on a river. While that 10 minute of tension are interesting enough, it’s impossible to stretch that 10 minutes into a 90-minute movie, and therefore the plot is more about the investigation of the crash.

Here’s some context: on 15 January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549, a domestic flight from New York to North Carolina, was hit by a flock of birds three minutes after take-off. The plane lost both engines and the pilot, Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, stayed cool while he corresponded with air control on a possible runway nearby. Sully, seeing that it was impossible, decided to land on Hudson River, a 507km river in New York.

As it was freezing out there, his decision was to ensure that the rescue team could reach them fast. The entire event was caught on tape (after all, it’s a plane landing on a river—lots of people are around!), and all passengers and crew members survived the accident, although some had minor injuries primarily due to the cold temperature.

In reality, Sully, his first officer, the crew members and everyone in the rescue operations were hailed as heroes. Sully became a mini celebrity as he went on talk shows to talk about the event, and even published a bestseller based on this incident (which the movie is based on).

Known as the “Miracle on the Hudson”, it attracted so much attention that everyone in the world was talking about it, especially Sully’s heroic act and his cool composure during the accident.

Now, knowing the premise of the film, it’s one heck of a real-life story, but how do you retell it with a feature-length movie?

Focus on what people did not know and yet is interesting: the investigation on the crash of the airplane. The idea is simple: could Sully land on a runway instead of on the river, risking the lives of 155 people? To the investigators, the end doesn’t justify the means.

Granted the investigation, and Sully’s internal struggle of having to face the repercussion of his decision within days upon the event, is refreshing and interesting. But that’s about it in the movie: you see Captain Sully facing his fears, his apprehensions and his worries.

It’s a show about a hidden devil that you never see.

Which brings me to the headline: boring and slow-paced. Maybe we movie-goers have got used to more-action-less-talk films, because throughout the film, the dialogue, which I may add is a little repetitive, just drags on and on. It doesn’t move the plot—it just shows Captain Sully’s emotions.

But, despite these long-winded dialogues and phone calls that last forever, Tom Hanks stole the show like a boss. Yes, they’re boring, but they’re so real, you might just think that it’s the real Captain Sully in the film.

Is it worth watching then? Unless you’re like me who likes to analyse a film after watching it, and finding it more interesting only after watching it, it might come across as a boring show catered for aviation enthusiast and Tom Hanks’ fans.

Featured Image: onemileatatime.boardingarea.com

This article was first published on Goodyfeed.com