Sully lands plane on Hudson River and satisfies cynical committee

Rating: 7/10 (8 September 2016)

Clint Eastwood's take on the Disaster film incidentally explains why he has endorsed Donald Trump for president.
The film has the usual air disaster film conventions: the cross-section passenger list, the heroic captain, the beautiful and helpful stewardi, the crash threat, experience and survival. But Eastwood makes four radical changes. As usual, the meaning lies in how the director inflects the genre conventions.
One, he puts the crash and survival at the beginning. The suspense is therefore not rooted in the passengers' experience when Canada Geese choke and knock out both engines, necessitating an emergency landing. Instead the suspense lies in the government committee's ensuing enquiry into whether Captain Chesley Sullenberger made the right decision when he opted to land his 155 passengers on the chilly Hudson River instead of trying to get back to LaGuardia.
Two, instead of the usual tensions and even spats that usually erupt in a threatened flight film, this one depicts a harmonious community. It explicitly pays homage to New York City, its efficient and effective response teams, the community spirit not just on the plane but beyond, in the city-wide celebration of Captain Sully and his amazing landing. A bartender gives him the drink, The Sully, he invented: two shots of Grey Goose and a splash of water.
Three, the central focus is not on any passenger but on the captain. The 2009 events are intercut with memories of Sully's earlier experiences, nightmares of what might have happened on that fateful flight, and hallucinations of the plane searing through Manhattan buildings. Instead of showing the passengers' faith being tested here it's the captain's, as the formal investigation into his conduct threatens his family's security, his 40-year career, and his own faith in his judgment.
Four, the film revives the spirit of Eastwood's Dirty Harry in a sanitized manner. As Clint's Callahan tossed away the law book to operate on his own instincts, Tom Hanks's Sully eschews the operations manual in the 206 seconds he has to make his decision. He instead "eyeballs" the problem and follows his instincts.
And that's where the film coheres with Eastwood's endorsement of Donald Trump. The villains here are the government's investigating committee that goes by the book, that uses fancy high falutin' stuff like computer simulations, pilot re-enactments, estimations of lost machinery, and the la-dee-dah like to cast aspersions on the "hero" who simply followed his "instincts."
In Eastwood's (and little Donnie's) book, government committees, checks and regulations only interfere in people's lives and keep a Good Man from Doing the Right Thing by following his gut. That's why Eastwood ran for mayor of Carmel — to get rid of all the red tape in municipal admin — and that's why the ostensibly successful multiple bankruptcy blatantly lying Trump gets Eastwood's vote. As Trump "loves the uneducated people" Eastwood bets on the man of instinct.
It's a very personal story for Clint. Hence his closing song: "You tell me your story, I'll tell you mine." It's Sully's but also Clint's.