Repetitive and Lacks Urgency

Rating: 6/10 (14 December 2016)

I'm not a massive fan of Tom Hanks, and I don't think I've ever enjoyed a Clint Eastwood-directed movie, but I figured what the hell and went to see it anyway, it's a story I'm interested in learning a little more about. But if there's one thing the movie taught me, it's that I already knew pretty much the whole story already. Sully and his co-pilot lose both engines from a sing bird strike, start losing altitude fast, and quickly decide an unprecedented water landing on the nearby river is a safer option than attempting to make a ditch for a nearby airport. Through an unmatched amount of skill and luck, the landing goes as smoothly as can be, all the passengers survived with minor injuries, and Captain Sully is hailed a hero. The main narrative follows the investigation afterwards from the NTSB, as Sully attempts to convince the board that there was no other option, in the face of both computer and human simulations that tell them otherwise.
I have two really big issues with this movie. The first is how repetitive it is. We see the incident at least three times, almost from beginning to end each time, just with slightly different perspectives; air traffic control, passengers, and cabin. It takes a while for these flashbacks to begin, instead offered nightmares of how it could've happened and gone catastrophically wrong, but once they start, we keep revisiting it over and over, and I'll be honest, it gets boring. These flashbacks become harder and harder to separate from the main narrative as we go on as well. There's a scene late in the movie where Sully is hugged by a hotel manager, but it's not immediately obvious when this scene actually takes place. It's only when his co-pilot asks why he's still in his uniform that it clicks that it's actually still part of the flashback, post-incident.
My second issue, and this is a biggie, is that every time we see the incident, it lacks urgency, it lacks drama, it lacks suspense. At no point are we shown the gravity of the situation, only told how it was a miracle, how it was unprecedented, how it could've gone so much worse. As I understand it, the whole rescue operation took about twenty-four minutes, and I guess in the name of authenticity, Eastwood decided to show it in near enough to realtime, which slows everything down, loses all momentum of the accident and takes away the much needed urgency that lives could be at stake. We're told by news reporters that the passengers "have minutes to live" but we're never given any indication that this is actually the case from watching the rescue itself. I don't know, maybe that was the point; to show how the media over-inflates everything to make it sound more dramatic and interesting? But then, wouldn't that just completely undermine the heroism Eastwood is simultaneously attempting to portray?
It's not a complete failure of a movie though. Even though I haven't enjoyed a single Eastwood- directed movie I've seen, he's still reasonably talented on the more technical aspects. The film does look great, and what effects work there was is flawless (genuinely thought the David Letterman scene was re-enacted rather than just had Hanks et al's faces super-imposed). As off- putting as it was to see a reporters face large and centre in front of a blurred background, it did at least have the resemblance of artistry behind it.
Tom Hanks' work is admirable, of course. He isn't such a celebrated and high-demanded actor for no reason, and his Sully is likable and empathetic, but rightly conflicted and affected by the incident. Aaron Eckhart's Skiles is more down-to-earth and jokey, but not entirely without effect. Laura Linney doesn't get a whole lot to do, spending a hundred percent of her screen time on the phone, but she manages to serve as the emotional backbone to the movie, as annoyingly insignificant as her role may be. Anna Gunn probably impressed me the most, as NTSB investigator Elizabeth Davis. In a way she's the sympathetic investigator on the board, without undermining the authority of her position. The break in her voice during the hearing as the NTSB's agenda is brought down is powerful. She also gets bonus points for almost making me forget how annoying Skyler was in Breaking Bad.
Sully clocks in at a relatively short ninety minutes, but that's still too long, and the film still feels like it was padded out with filler, overly slow-moments, and repetitive flashbacks. It somehow manages to drag along, and then concludes abruptly on weird joke. It lacks urgency, which in the retelling of a real-life emergency is a big oversight, and I'll be honest, I was actually kind of bored by the movie's end. I give it a meandering and over-sentimental 6/10.