Film/TV

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I was really hoping for this one.

I was really rooting for Clint Eastwood to bring his A game to remove the bad aftertaste of a horrible movie summer. With Sully, my man Clint, did not. This isn’t an A game. This is just a disappointment.  Am I being harsh? Maybe. But with talent like Eastwood and Tom Hanks, I expect something more then this plodding, tensionless film. I think the main cause of it is that I don’t think there is enough of a story about Chelsey “ Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who landed an airbus 320 on the Hudson River, saving everyone. Aisde from the great reneacment of that event, there isn’t much else to the film.  This movie is 95 minutes long and it still feels padded. The landing is scrutinized by a group of bureaucrats who believe Sully could have made it back to the airport instead of waterlogging the aircraft. Talk about tension.

I know the man is a hero.  He did what he had to do and saved everyone. I don’t think this needed the film treatment. This is in no way an insult to what this guy did but if anyone thought that this film would get by with adding a tepid backstory about his life as a young pilot in the military or talking about his younger days crop-dusting, then they shouldn’t be making movies.  The ace in the hole is Tom Hanks. He tries here and succeeds in bring Sully to life. His everyman persona works here, like it did in the far better and more thrilling Captain Phillips. All the other cast members just seem to show up, do their work and enjoy their time with Clint. They’re just not that interesting.

On the plus side, the tech credits are actually wonderful. The visual effects are well handled. The landing on the Hudson is done with intricate detail. The cinematography by Tom Stern is award worthy and the score is minimalism at it’s powerful best.  That said, even with all these good elements, this movie just doesn’t cut it.

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