Sully

Rating: 7/10 (11 September 2016)

MINOR SPOILERS
When most people hear the name Captain Sully, they probably think "hero", but ask him, or his family, and they'd describe him as a regular man. This film delves into his true feelings after the flight, and shows that for as much as he did for those people, he still felt as if he didn't deserve his praise. He felt that maybe the lawyers he was fighting against were right, and he actually endangered the people on that plane.
We see that before the flight, Sully has has nightmares of almost the same thing happening before, but in those dreams, he crashes into buildings and dies, bringing many of the people on board with him. He constantly fears this loss of control in his plane, since it seems it is all he can truly control in his life. What does he say just before the engines go out in the real life incident? "Life is better in the air". He has probably thought about this many times, and this is probably why he maintains such a calm attitude about it as it is happening, as we see when we see the crash from the pilots' point of view. But still, he doesn't want the fame, because part of him feels he doesn't deserve it, no matter what everyone tells him. There is a great shot of Sully jogging through the streets, as his shadow grows in the smoke in front of him, and news reports of the crash can be heard in the background, showing Sully running from this false image of himself portrayed in the media.
The film's structure revolves around his life after the flight, and his struggles with an insurance company working for the plane that was landed into the river. There are many flashbacks and flash forwards, and we are able to see Sully as who he is: A man. We also get to see the crash from first the point of view of the passengers, then the pilots. Some of the passengers are introduced swiftly to us, as the camera glides from person to person, getting us to care just enough for each one. Despite already knowing exactly what happens, these scenes of the planes crash are very intense. Since we know these people now, it is nerve wracking to see them put into such a near death experience. The camera gets shakier than usual, and you can tell the people don't think they are going to make it out alive. This makes it all the more alarming when we see how calm and collected Captain Sully is through all of this. Also, for a film that should be inherently predictable, it somehow remains unpredictable, specifically during the human flight simulations.
In the end, we realize that we place all of the credit for everyone coming out OK on Sully, but in truth, it was everyone involved. If one person simply hadn't done their job, one person or more could've died. This includes the passengers, if they hadn't been smart, and stayed relatively calm while listening to what they were told to do, they would be dead. It was a miracle across the board that everyone turned out alright.