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th, 2009, when Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger (played here by Tom Hanks) made a “forced water landing” on the Hudson river when his passenger plane was crippled soon after take-off. All 155 souls survived, but Sully soon became subject to an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, and struck repeatedly by PTSD. Painted in strokes as broad as the wingspan of a 747, this drama from Clint Eastwood details the events and aftermath of January 15, 2009, when Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger (played here by Tom Hanks) made a “forced water landing” on the Hudson river when his passenger plane was crippled soon after take-off. All 155 souls survived, but Sully soon became subject to an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, and struck repeatedly by PTSD.





A Hologram For The King, a plot catalyst head trauma in Inferno and now his near-disastrous air incident here, Tom Hanks has spent a lot of screen time this year being told by doctors that he's going be fine, but Sully is the one instance where you actually believe the damage might be more than superficial scarring. Maybe it's the bleached grey hair or the bristly moustache, but there’s something about Hanks’ performance here that escapes the reassuring warmth of his usual persona, as it should: Sully’s trajectory is far from one of reassurance, where doubts about his fateful decision creep in from every corner. With his stubborn cyst in, a plot catalyst head trauma inand now his near-disastrous air incident here, Tom Hanks has spent a lot of screen time this year being told by doctors that he's going be fine, but Sully is the one instance where you actually believe the damage might be more than superficial scarring. Maybe it's the bleached grey hair or the bristly moustache, but there’s something about Hanks’ performance here that escapes the reassuring warmth of his usual persona, as it should: Sully’s trajectory is far from one of reassurance, where doubts about his fateful decision creep in from every corner.





So why, after going to so much effort to gift Hanks a performance that thrives on discomfort and nuance, does the screenplay as a whole fall back on a straightforward good versus bad narrative? The various NTSB investigators are portrayed as villains; sneering suits on a mission to catch Sully out. While writer Todd Komarnicki occasionally sews the tiniest seeds of doubt that the board may be right, it’s all in favour of later payoffs designed to make them look like heartless snobs. Among them is the hugely talented Anna Gunn, who is given little more to work with than a series of patronising head tilts and irritable sideways glances to her colleagues.





Sully and particularly last year’s Everest use their female characters as little more than the stricken, powerless wife at home. We get a better glimpse into the lives of random passengers than Lorraine's, including Sam Huntington as a son separated from his father. This little aside adds nothing substantial to the narrative but it does mean that, with Dan Fogler currently starring in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, we have two Fanboys alumni in high-profile releases this month. Still, better to be dishing out those glances than being the object of one: the film mishandles a good wedge of its supporting cast. Aaron Eckhart as co-pilot and co-moustache wearer Jeffrey Skiles could have so much more to do but is little more than light comic relief, and Laura Linney as Sully’s wife, Lorraine, is tied to a telephone for the entire film. It’s really starting to bug me now that – for all the invention and artistic license they take with various events – ‘true story’ films such asand particularly last year’suse their female characters as little more than the stricken, powerless wife at home. We get a better glimpse into the lives of random passengers than Lorraine's, including Sam Huntington as a son separated from his father. This little aside adds nothing substantial to the narrative but it does mean that, with Dan Fogler currently starring in, we have twoalumni in high-profile releases this month.





Gran Torino poster), but he knows how to stage an arresting set piece. Here, he chooses to recreate the so-called 'Miracle on the Hudson' on multiple occasions, punctuating the structure of the film and allowing us a view from the flight control tower, the river and the cockpit, respectively. Indeed, the film opens with Sullenberger dreaming of the landing gone awry, his aircraft ploughing through central New York. As I said; very unsubtle imagery, but it gets things off a rousing jolt. Whatever faults there might be with legitimacy of drama, there's no denying the technical accomplishment. Eastwood may not be the most subtle director (on a restless jaunt around Times Square, Sullenberger passes a ridiculously largeposter), but he knows how to stage an arresting set piece. Here, he chooses to recreate the so-called 'Miracle on the Hudson' on multiple occasions, punctuating the structure of the film and allowing us a view from the flight control tower, the river and the cockpit, respectively. Indeed, the film opens with Sullenberger dreaming of the landing gone awry, his aircraft ploughing through central New York. As I said; very unsubtle imagery, but it gets things off a rousing jolt.





The special effects are tangible and unobtrusive, and the sound design as the plane drops with increasingly eerie familiarity is astounding. But the biggest technical plaudit should belong to cinematographer Tom Stern. Brandishing the most extensive use of IMAX cameras ever used on a feature film, Stern makes the monochrome magnificent. Any building not blanketed in a layer of snow appears jet black, and every element of the frame (faces, suits, screens) take on a singular tone, like a massive colour-by-numbers piece. Were this story the simple black-and-white affair Eastwood clearly believes it to be, the victory of the visuals would be absolute.



