This Time An American Hero That's Hard To Fault

Rating: 8/10 (15 September 2016)

Once more Clint Eastwood turns his lens on a unique American whose actions put him in a category of one. Like American Sniper's protagonist Chris Kyle, Sully's Chesley Sullenberger has steely nerves that enable him to make accurate decisions. This time the accolades won't be tied to controversy...or will they?
In the early going we see the aftermath that ensued for Sullenberger as Eastwood chooses to segue ahead of the "miracle" forced landing. Tom Hanks, as Captain Sullenberger, ably portrays a man who believes in himself even as he is suffering from the trauma of an unbelievably risky nigh perfect water landing. The fact that he saved all 155 souls aboard may be the only thing that really matters to a man like Sullenberger, but he's a family man with a career to also protect. Still, Sully knows that even as he saved lives his own professional one will shortly be on the line. Honestly I did not realize how there were forces playing that would have liked to vilify such a, seemingly great, life saving captain. I get it now, as Eastwood has woven this other darker plot immediately into the otherwise upbeat story. By introducing this the way Eastwood has I realize that this is just as big as the actual landing. It's pretty clear that many factions stand to gain something by hanging fault on Sullenberger. Really? What's wrong with people. Here were have a horrendous disaster averted and someone is worrying about if the plane could have been saved along with the passengers? I guess that's life in the litigation lane?
After this excellent setup the movie segues back to the the flight itself. For many of us this is what we've wanted to experience and it's pretty good even if the sheer terror of the passengers is not as palpable as I expected. The focus on the cockpit management is intense and revealing. You'll see shortly why Sully's decision was the only possible way an actual "human" could have managed the situation for a favorable outcome. The writers and Eastwood did an exceptional job here of recreating the hearing where things could have easily went against a lesser man than Chesley Sullenberger. If not for him it's likely all on board would have perished and if not for his sheer determination to prove the experts wrong he would have been hung out to dry living a shameful existence. You'll see why 38-secons a computer can't understand, but a human actually must have (this is the minimum the board allowed and its actually shy of the real decision time of almost 1 and a half minutes) 's the hinge on which everything turns. This is a brilliantly revealed error in the flight simulation of the plane: multiple failures only a seasoned pilot can manage to which the computerized simulator can't accurately process.
I think this is a great look at the only successful (i.e. everyone on board lived) forced water landing of a wide body passenger jet. I think this kind of stuff is not easy to blend the humanity and the cold analytics together into a homogeneous whole. Clint Eastwood has managed this and it's possible he'll get a nod for the best director Academy Award even as these kind of stories seldom do. Tom Hanks, well, he's his usual amazing chameleon self. He eschews all Hollywood bombast and any kind of over-acting. He plays it close and tight to a man who is a very serious type with the skills to match. He is, for an hour and a half, Chesley Sullenberger, not Tom Hanks. That's a high compliment and it's easy to miss as he inhabits the character without interjecting any Hank-isms. He probably won't get the nomination for best actor simply because he is so controlled, like an exceptionally intuitive and disciplined man...like Captian Chesley Sullenberger.
See the film and then see it again to soak in more of the gravity of what actually happened. It was called "The Miracle On The Hudson" to which this movie makes it clear that wasn't any news writer;s hyperbole. Just an amazing man who under the worst circumstance made the best outcome happen. I think this movie this point made well, plus it's truly uplifting.