Not good

Rating: 2/10 (20 September 2016)

Let me start off by saying that the crash and rescue scenes are very touching, the use of music very effective.
But I could not help but think during the whole movie "Why do I care if he made a mistake or not?". The trailer pretty much gives you everything you will find out about the character Sully - there is little character development, I see no reason to sympathise with him, nor was I given any reason to understand what "struggle" he was going through - the phone conversations with his wife seem like an afterthought - we don't know what exactly are their family issues. The wife mentions losing a house - but there is no context. The daughters are never present on camera - why is Sully away from home and seem to have a strained/detached relationship with his family? Almost scene almost feels like they are created for a sake of it. Why the hotel scene when the only thing they do there is to say they're tired and then go out?
For the large investigation committee present on screen, only two people have a voice. And their animosity towards the pilots are very contrived - only one reason was revealed in the causal chat between the two pilots "insurance". And after Sully raised the point about human reaction time - there is this sudden magical change in attitude of the two people - so drastic that the women who wanted to add a sentimentalist personal note to the pilots.
Everything just feels so contrived, artificial - emotions just don't add up or make sense. The context is not clear. Given that we all know that no one dies in the incident, the movie failed to make me want to care about Sully and his reputation, given how little I know about him.
If you're an American, I see the appeal of the crash and rescue scene, but other than that I don't see why this movie deserves the acclaim it received.