Tom Hanks’ magical performance and Clint Eastwood’s direction, without taking the route of sensationalization, work in favor of the 2016 American biographical drama ‘Sully’. Indeed it is an inspiring true story of airline pilot Chesley Sully Sullenberger’s heroic emergency landing of the US Flight 1549 on the Hudson River. The movie is fast-paced and to the point with some fine performances, even from the supporting cast like Laura Linney and Aaron Eckhart.
Some actors own their characters so convincingly that after watching the film, you don’t even think of anyone else for the same role. Tom Hanks is one of them who has proved this over and over, and this time in Clint Eastwood’s direction, this is even a notch higher.
When we think of how such a thin storyline would build up a feature film, Eastwood relies on his character and the actor, more than the fact that the real-life incident lasted little more than a couple of minutes.
Tom Hanks’ ‘Sully’ is the story of Captain Chesley Sullenberger who takes a brave decision against any predictable solution when he decides to land the flight on the river Hudson. Banking on his 40 years of experience as a pilot, he thinks he has done the only thing possible with both the engines dead. However, the other side of eventuality makes him think about what could have happened in the worst case.
The director and also the writer Todd Komarnicki have very cleverly presented a three-and-half-minute event with flashbacks, nightmares, and daydream sequences. In a sense, the story on paper is linear as we know what is going to happen in the end, yet the structure of the film was nonlinear.
While Hanks excels in extracting the best from the power of this episode, Aaron Eckhart (as the co-pilot Jeff Skiles) instills more energy in this real human story with one’s internal struggle.
The film is in no way overdramatized by the event or the historic event rather it focuses on human sensibilities with Sullenberger’s traumatic recollection of the incident and also his effort to find everyone safe in the end. Among many biopics that we have watched in the recent past, this one will for sure stay in our memories for a long.
Watch the trailer here for ‘Sully’
Watch the movie trailer for Sully. Tom Hanks portrays Capt. Chesley Sully Sullenberger and Aaron Eckhart as co-pilot Jeff Skiles in the Clint Eastwood-directed film.
Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
Where to watch Sully (2016)
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