Friday, September 9, 2016

Sully

I have been on hundreds of flights which means that I have heard the safety briefing hundreds of times.  You know the one.  "In the unlikely event of a water landing, life jackets are located under your seat and your seat cushion can be used as a flotation device."  I never really think about the fact that the plane could actually crash into the water and that I might actually need to locate my nearest exit and jump into an inflated raft.  I bet the passengers aboard US Airways Flight 1549 never thought about it, either.  Watching what happens when a plane is forced to land in the water in the movie Sully last night was very disconcerting, to say the least, and I don't think I will take that safety briefing for granted any more!  Sully focuses on the NTSB investigation of the landing of Flight 1549 in the Hudson River and calls into question the actions of Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) and First Officer Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart).  The board members suggest that the plane could have returned to LaGuardia unharmed and Sully is forced to defend his actions in the midst of PTSD and the bewildering onslaught of media adulation.  I have said it before and I will say it again:  I think Tom Hanks excels at playing the Everyman character.  He gives an incredible performance as the calm professional who is secretly tormented by what could have happened (I actually had to look away from the screen in the opening sequence when the plane crashes into a building during one of his nightmares).  Hanks quietly portrays the dignity of the man and I especially loved the scene when he learns that all 155 passengers survived because he is not overly dramatic but simply shows his emotion through his eyes.  Clint Eastwood puts the audience right inside the cockpit during the re-creations of the flight and the rescue scenes (I loved that the heroism of all of the rescue workers involved was emphasized) are intense but the true drama is played out in an NSTB hearing.  The audience in my screening actually cheered at the end of it.  I walked out of this movie reminded that there are still good people in the world and for that I highly recommend it!

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