Solid

Rating: Null/10 (15 September 2016)

That is one word I can think of to describe the direction of Clint Eastwood and performance of Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart (yes, don't forget him, as the co-pilot Jeff Skiles). Laura Linney's talent is, unfortunately, all but wasted, playing Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's wife. Still, with dialogue limited only to talking to her husband on the phone, Linney brings to the screen a presence few others can.
The story of the landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009 is definitely worth telling. If miracles exist, this is certainly one, with all 155 people on board the airbus surviving, including babies and the elderly. The fact that this happens in the deep of frigid winter makes it even more of a miracle. The closing line in the movie serves well to underline this. In the conclusion of the investigative hearing, when asked if he were to do this again, is there anything he would want differently, Skiles sprinkles his last words with a good sense of humor, "Yes, I would do it in July".
But how to tell such a story when everything that is essential happened in 208 seconds, i.e. a little over three minutes? This is the time between a sudden, totally unexpected encounter with a bunch of birds that instantly kills both of the engines (and some birds, no doubt), various restoration attempts in the cockpit failing to work, weighting the choice between going back to LaGuardia or going to a neighboring airport in New Jersey and finally coming up with the decision that neither is feasible and the Hudson River is the only real option. All these happening in 208 seconds. What can a director do? Repeatedly show what happened during these 208 seconds? Well, if the director is Clint Eastwood, he can do a lot more.
The narrative of this 96-minute movie is anchored on an investigation which just might turn the hero into a culprit. I am not sure how much dramatization has been employed, but there does not appear to be much. While the public generally hails this as a miracle, there is a fundamental question of whether Sully made the right decision. Specifically, despite the lucky turn of events, would either, or both, of the airports offer a better chance of survival? The whole thing hinges on computer simulated recreation in a cockpit with real pilots attempting these landings. In both cases the result is affirmative. There now seems to be a case for reprimanding the two pilots for putting the lives of their passenger at unnecessary risk, even when disaster was averted.
Here was the dramatic tension. Eastwood deftly assembles a collection of scenes in a way that provides variety but not generate confusion. Most interesting is how what happened in those 208 minutes is handled. In the opening scene, we see it ending with the plane crashing into densely populated Manhattan, and Sully waking up with cold sweat on his forehead. We get to see the real thing only at the very end, in the public enquiry where Sully successfully refutes the computer assimilations. Only then that, for the first time, everybody (the investigating committee, attending reporters, as well as Sully and Skiles) hear the live recordings from the cockpit in those 208 minutes. While everybody listens to this on earphones, we the audience are privy to visuals from inside the cockpit, the long-expected nail-biting moments solidly delivered.
There are no villains, despite the initial apparent hostility of the investigative committee. From the onset, Sully tries to convince Skiles that these people are not out to get them personally, but just doing their job. It was quite heart-warming to see, at the end, how they respond to Sully's convincing refuting of the cockpit assimilation "evidence", portrayed in subtle facial expressions when they finally acknowledge the credit to which the pilots are due. Also a solid job, by the movie makers in recognizing this aviation miracle by Sully, who generously shares the credit with everyone involved in the rescue on the Hudson River in the middle of winder.