DULLY
Sully
Review by Nick Hemming
Quite frankly, I’m shocked with the positive reviews that Clint Eastwood’s latest offering, Sully, has garnered from both fans and critics alike (it’s currently 82% Certified Fresh on RottenTomatoes.com). My surprise does not necessarily stem from a disdain of the cast members’ performances (most are adequate, if not respectable), or even from Eastwood’s predictably glum direction; my astonishment in the film’s success arises from the fact that its entire plot is built upon the foundation of a three-minute event—an event that, in the grand scheme of history, could arguably be considered inferior to more devastating, or gallant incidents.
Not to downplay the “Miracle on the Hudson,” what Captain Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger and crew were able to accomplish on that fateful day in 2009 was nothing short of its nickname—a miracle. Nor is it fair to say that Sully’s salvation of 155 lives shouldn’t be considered one of the most heroic actions of any American over the past decade. This event, and all who contributed to its triumph, deserve to be remembered, revered, and respected; however, is a Hollywood blockbuster really the best method of memorialization here?
Consider the three fundamental necessities a successful movie plot requires: a protagonist, an antagonist, and a climax in which the two confront each other. In the real Miracle on the Hudson, Captain Sullenberger is the obvious protagonist, and the antagonist is…the birds that caused the crash? The inevitably exhausting notoriety affiliated with becoming an overnight national hero? Jet lag? Therein lies the most obvious concern with turning this story into a blockbuster: there is no real antagonist. There was no devious, mustachioed terrorist in a hot air balloon unloading thousands of geese into the sky, screaming, “FLY, MY PETS! INTO THE ENGINES YOU GO! MWAHAHA!” It was just a freak accident; geese fly, planes fly…they are bound to run into each other every once in a while.
Sully smartly remedies this by inventing its very own “bad guy;” in this case, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), who immediately accuses Captain Sullenberger of making the wrong decision. The three heads of the big, bad FAA are brilliantly casted with Mike O’Malley (who was unanimously unlikeable in Concussion), Anna Gunn (arguably the most hated character on Breaking Bad), and Jamey Sheridan (who played the lawyer who helped keep the Church’s sexual abuse scandals under wraps in Spotlight). You can’t help but just not like these three from their first moments on-screen; like I said, great casting. However, you also can’t help but question their motives. Captain Sully just managed to successfully crash a plane with no casualties, and the FAA’s first reaction is to place him at fault and force him into an early retirement with no pension? Highly unlikely. I’m sure they had to do their jobs and get to the bottom of what happened, but it’s entirely unrealistic to believe that they immediately held Sully with such contempt, especially after what he’d just done. Still, the film’s climax (a hearing in which Sully proves that his decision was, in fact, the right one) does instill one with a sense of pride and a smirking attitude of “I told you so.”
Throughout its 96-minute runtime, it becomes increasingly apparent that the film has very little to work with after the plane crashes and the survivors are safely rescued. Eastwood includes several scenes portraying what an actual plane crash would’ve looked like had Sully not safely landed in the water, images that, although visually engaging, hold little-to-no substance. Similarly, there are a few flashback scenes that masquerade as Sully’s origin in aviation, but are really just filler. Every scene somehow feels repetitive. As undoubtedly great as Tom Hanks is, there are still only so many ways he can contemplatively look at himself in the mirror before the audience gets bored — which is honestly the most accurate way to describe how I felt in the theater: bored.
Sully is boring. It’s boring in its sluggish pacing, that builds to its boring climax in which people sit around in a room and determine something that should’ve been obvious. It’s boring in its jaded, Eastwood-esque trait of portraying a hero depressed by the repercussions of his heroic actions (See: American Sniper). Even Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart are boring — I mean, their performances are fine, but their characters are just so damn boring because they have nothing to do. Maybe there’s something beautiful in the humdrum of it all; maybe that’s the very point of the film altogether: that heroics without flash are heroics nonetheless. Regardless, I found Sully to be a yawner that would indubitably make for a better History Channel documentary than something one would pay money to go see on the big screen.
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Release Date: September 9, 2016
Run Time: 96 Minutes
Country: USA
Rated: PG-13
Distributor: Warner Brothers
