Nuts-and-Bolts Filmmaking

Rating: 7/10 (9 September 2016)

Sully is based on what has popularly become known as the "Miracle on the Hudson". For those in need of a refresher, on January 15, 2009, flight 1549 from New York City's LaGuardia airport to Charlotte, hit a flock of birds during its ascent, losing both of its engines. Finding little recourse, pilot Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles made the fateful decision to make an emergency water landing. They glided their A320 Airbus into the frigid waters of the Hudson River. There were 5 serious injuries but thankfully all 155 passengers survived. Sully for his efforts was treated to a heroes welcome.
Much like the protagonist, the film is a lean, workman-like movie that does it job, and does it amicably. The narrative bounces between POV recollections of the crash and the immediate aftermath which includes Sully (Hanks) and the rest of the crew shuttled between investigations and press junkets. To up the psychological stakes, Sully is coerced into second guessing himself by a National Transportation Safety Board investigation (which act as the default bad guys) all while exhibiting light symptoms of PTSD.
Tom Hanks as our hero is yet again stellar playing a similar riff off the Captain Phillips (2013) playbook. At this point, the man playing personable everyday heroes has made him a movie genre onto himself. He's not so much a born madcap swashbuckler but rather a working stiff who always seems to be at the wrong place at the right time and relies on training and a breadth of experience to carry him through. As Sully, his inner turmoil as a guy more-or-less being blamed for doing the right thing, feels frightfully real.
Director Clint Eastwood seems to take particular relish in conveying stories of this nature. Sully is a pulse-pounding story of a red- blooded modern American hero. One who became lionized for doing his job. Yet instead of gravitating towards the limelight, Sullenberger humbly accepted his newfound hero pilot status while quietly but assuredly backing up his decision-making. Likewise the film doesn't take victory laps or pounds its chest like some other Clint Eastwood directed film I can think of. Instead it lets the smart editing, clear and concise camera-work and nuts-and-bolts directing speak for itself.
Unfortunately being a film resembling the clever terseness of Joe Friday can be a double-edged sword. Since it doesn't reach for the dramatic acme of Mystic River (2003) or the mythic majesty of Unforgiven (1992), Sully does have the propensity to feel second- rate. Additionally the NTSB board push-back, which pits the gutsy pilot against simulations, reeks less of John Henry populism and more of a veiled criticism of egg-heads and their darn computers. I suppose most films should have a villain and including Anna Gunn as the silently condescending adult in the room is a stroke of genius. But Sully's visions mixed with the largely unspoken but always present specter of 9/11 should have been enough to convey the stakes were plenty high on January 15, 2009.
Sully is a taut, well made B-movie that is occasionally tense and always interesting. While it never reaches as high as it arguably should, it nevertheless makes for a fun time at the movies. The film ends with the real Captain Sully walking up to the plane fuselage which sits at the Aviation Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. He embraces a bunch of real 1549 passengers while centered on the screen and lighted like a canonized saint. Any other true-life character I'd say Clint's laying it on a bit thick, but this time I think I'll let it slide.