By Cynthia Ayala

“The story of Chesley Sullenberger, who became a hero after gliding his plane along the water in the Hudson River, saving all of the airplane flights 155 crew and passengers.”

—IMDB

Sully is a remarkable film about a man who acted quick and ended up saving a number of lives. Recreating the miracle on the Hudson. What makes this film so amazing isn’t just the star power but it’s taking this event, this small (time wise) event and expanding on it in a very humanistic way focusing on who Sully was. He wasn’t just a pilot; he was a human being who made an impossible decision in a matter of moments, seconds really. And he was a very humble man who faced so much in the aftermath that no one knew about. And this film explored that through Sully’s story, it explored the aftermath and it explored everything this man was going through.

Stylistically, the movie flows. It jumps around a lot but it doesn’t lose the audience in doing so. There is a simple fluidity to the writing here, and it all fits together, it flows and adds to the story and to who Sully is and what he was going through as everything was happening. It was very humanistic in its way of story-telling which tells the audience so much, grounding them in the film. The audience is drawn in and in a film where everyone pretty much knows about, drawing them and keeping them hooked to the story is very important. The Eastwood and Komarnicki clearly worked very hard here to paint this story, to tell this story about a man who gained so much when he could have lost so much. They focused on the story, on the setting, on all the small details that are important to bringing a true story to life because it’s in those details that one could lose or gain and audience. Here, it’s all a win.

Then there is the acting. Tom Hanks was the best choice for this role. He played honestly, getting to know Sully as he was written on the script and getting to know the emotions that are revolving around what is going on in the scene, around the scene and within the dialogue between other people. Tom Hanks keeps the integrity of the role high, giving it so much important and highlighting, within his acting, all the stresses of this act, all the emotions and fear that was going on in this mans’ mind. He captures what Sully was feeling with amazing acting.

I, personally, could not see a single flaw with this movie. It kept to the point, it focused on the story and it flowed beautifully. It portrayed real heroes in action, it highlighted all the fear the passengers were feeling, without over-dramatizing it. Sully was an honest film about a real life hero without all the flare and that makes it a great film to see. (★★★☆ | A)

—Film Credits—

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Written by Todd Komarnicki

Based on Highest Duty by Chesley Sullenberger & Jeffrey Zaslow

Starring: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart & Laura Linney

Rating | Length | Genre: PG-13 | 1h 36min | Biography, Drama

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures