National treasures Tom Hanks and Clint Eastwood tell the story of another national treasure, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger.

Rating: 8/10 (13 September 2016)

Many people remember, or have at least heard of, the "Miracle on the Hudson", the 2009 landing of a disabled passenger jet on the Hudson River by Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, resulting in the survival of all of the plane's passengers and crew. But how much do we really know about the incident? In most cases, probably not much more than what was in that first sentence. That's what makes the story such a great idea for a movie. With Todd Komarnicki's adaptation of Sullenburger's 2009 memoir "Highest Duty" as their guide, director Clint Eastwood and star Tom Hanks bring us the behind-the-scenes story of this incredible water landing and its aftermath in the drama "Sully" (PG-13, 1:35).
The film opens with a plane crash scene. It's a literal nightmare of Captain Sullenberger (Hanks), who is haunted by his experience of landing his airliner on the Hudson River – and what might have happened if things had gone differently. Different scenarios play out in Sully's head as he sleeps – and also while he's awake, forced to relive the incident by NTSB investigators. Their questions and the facts about the "crash" (as they call it, "forced water landing", as Sully calls it) lead Sully to second-guess himself and his actions, even as he is being hailed in the media and in person as a hero and he is being wholeheartedly supported by his wife, Lorraine Sullenberger (Laura Linney), via telephone from their California home.
As the investigators (played by Mike O'Malley, Jamey Sheridan and Anna Gunn) repeatedly interview Sully and his co-pilot, Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart), we hear information and arguments which will make most Movie Fans question whether Sully made the right call and whether he really is a hero. As Sully alternately struggles with those same issues and reaffirms his version of events for the skeptical investigators, we also see that short flight reenacted, from different perspectives and with more and more of the story coming to light. We also get a taste of the media frenzy which surrounded Sully and his family, and see flashback scenes of Sully's earlier experiences flying as a teenager and in the military.
The combination of the vast movie-making experience of Eastwood (directing his 35th feature) and Hanks (with over 30 years' worth of films on his resume) has resulted in an interesting and well-conceived telling of Sully's experiences. Much like the NTSB investigation at the center of the story, the film uses what most of us didn't know about the "Miracle on the Hudson" to dramatic effect, telling the untold story as if peeling back the layers of an onion. Besides a more complete picture of this incredible incident (and another reminder of how talented Eastwood and Hanks are), the film also gives us a subtle but profound reminder that there is, and never will be, a substitute for human experience, intuition and guts. "Sully" may not be a thrill-a-minute movie, but it uses every one of its 95 minutes very well. "A-"