Flight

Rating: Null/10 (6 January 2017)

Aiming to tell the "untold story behind the Miracle on the Hudson", this true story drama from Clint Eastwood documents Chesley Sullenberger's safe landing of a damaged plane on a river and how the National Transportation Safety Board sought to scrutinise his actions rather than celebrate him saving the lives of everyone on board. "In the end, I'm going be judged on 208 seconds" laments Sully, played by Tom Hanks here, and this is the most fascinating aspect of the film: the verdict will determine how everyone will always perceive him, all other merits aside. The film only engages in this dilemma occasionally though, and it is only in the final half hour in which the National Transportation Safety Board put Sully on trial that the film takes off. The first hour of is not worthless, but it is certainly uneven. Clint's decision to leave the real crash until midway through works well as it places doubt in our own minds as to what transpired, but since Hanks does not have a deeply flawed character like Denzel Washington in the similarly themed 'Flight', it is only so interesting to watch him wallow in self-doubt. The inclusion of extraneous flashbacks, like a father and two sons almost missing the flight, also feels like a poor attempt to beef the running time up to feature length. Indeed, the story here is slim for a standard length motion picture with (again) none of the plot complexities of 'Flight'. As always, Clint directs the film in a classy manner and if one avoids thinking about the Washington film in the same breath, it is a solidly assembled piece, if one that could have been much more.