Hurray for the Hero of Flight 1549!

Rating: 6/10 (9 September 2016)

Remember when a plane flew into the Hudson Bay? Remember all 155 passengers on board who miraculously survived the impact? Remember the pilot responsible for making the quick move that prevented this delay from becoming a disaster? ​ Now, seven and a half years after these events shook the world, the story of Captain Chesley Sullenberger is brought to the screen by director Clint Eastwood and actor Tom Hanks. Based on the autobiography, "Highest Duty," Sully expresses how the passengers' fear was vanquished by their pilot's risky and controversial thinking in a fashion that will inspire dads and business professionals across the nation.
It begins with a nightmare by the infamous pilot of his airplane flying uncontrollably into the city, the sounds of the plane booming real enough to rattle you the right way. He wakes up to yet another news report of his catastrophic Flight 1549 landing from January 15, 2009. This reality is simply too overwhelming for him to handle, so much so, that he can't even go jogging without facing a near-hit by a taxi cab. Neither he nor his family can escape from the reporters, talk shows, and high city court who won't shut up about the controversy. It's almost as if 911 is happening all over again, except consequentially by one of America's own heroes.
He explains in flashback precisely why he allowed the landing in spite of claims that the left engine could still have been idling. It all follows a nonlinear storytelling structure similar to what Stanley Kubrick or Quentin Tarantino have popularized. Maybe this flashback structure wasn't necessary in the telling of the story, or maybe it just wasn't edited properly. But either way, it got frustratingly confusing as to where or when I was in time, especially when it returns me to a scene that if left off of a half hour earlier.
If you were to go ask anyone who was there on that day of the Hudson Bay landing, they would go on to say from backed up evidence that these events are true to what happened; but this retelling doesn't feel quite true enough. Even right from the release of the first trailer, I knew that Tom Hanks wasn't going to fit the part, particularly because he does not look the part at all. Basically all the makeup artists do to make him look authentic is spray-paint his hair white and glue a mustache onto his face, which looks completely unconvincing that he is representing the real flight hero. Then if you look everywhere else around him, there is an excessive amount of branding for New York's culture. The words "New York" are everywhere within the overused wide-shots of the city, something that not even the fake-looking CGI planes can distract us from.
Yet I still wouldn't say that it makes this a horrible viewing experience. Far from it, in fact. Sully is backed up with plenty of satisfactory performances by the whole cast, particularly Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight, Thank You for Smoking), who plays Captain Sullenberger's first officer and best friend. There's also Laura Linney (Mystic River, The Truman Show) who plays the captain's stay- at- home wife. She's not the most well-developed or memorable of characters, but her love for her husband still comes out satisfactorily well.
Yeah, that's a good word to sum up this movie. It's satisfactory. It's certainly better than average, but not the best thing ever like I hoped it would. It's just plain satisfactory as good, wholesome, inspirational entertainment. It's not that bad for tributing a man who was so big he had an alcoholic beverage named after him (it's made with a shot of Grey Goose Vodka and a splash of water, so feel free to make it at home!)
It's also worth noting that the end credits feature some special guest appearances who will make this entire movie truly worth the trip.