Waterplane Down

Rating: 5/10 (18 December 2016)

"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Wow. Harvey "Two-Face" Dent said that one year prior to this movie's events and was onto something!
For the most part of Sully, it was heart-warming, tear-jerking and up- lifting. Intentionally, of course, but I bit, was enthralled and actively participated in how they wanted me to act during it. Now, that said, I don't know how much of this is true – I mean NOT EVERY SINGLE CHANNEL is on the same story for weeks. Unless, of course, a plane dives into something less wet in the same city this takes place in.
I ask about the authenticity because, I guess there are real-life assholes who try to question a hero's actions. Hell, let's pull that back quite a bit and just say someone in authority is questioning another's "good actions" and I know that to be true from my ten years in call centers. But, to this degree, they piled on the vileness of the villainous committee determined to prove this pilot who saved 155 souls could've saved some bucks by landing on concrete than water.
The only scenario the committee wasn't shown doing was tying Sully up on a railroad track while twirling their long mustaches as the train approached. By the third act, I might have actually bought that in this realm.
Regardless of the "need" for suspense outside the actual heroism and plane going down two dozen times (in various shots,) it was a well-made, quick (thank you!) and as said above, completely inspiring from the point of view of the humble, straight-up Sully.
The movie circles (literally) around a plane taking off from LaGuardia only to be immediately met by a mid-January bird convention and, though the movie says there were no casualties, I beg to differ with how many birds survived being shredded in the plane's engines. Anyhoo, Pilot Sully and his Co-Pilot, Mustache, have to make a quick decision to land on the Hudson when all other options were absolutely out of reach. Of course, enter our committee of haters who thought, "Eh, really? That would've been a piece of cake!"
Director Clint Eastwood did a great job of taking a water landing that lasted minutes – thanks to multiple heroes and wonderful coincidences, and NOT stretching it out past two hours adding needless added dramatic moments, characters that didn't exist or even more shots of what happened that disastrous morning. I thank you, Clint. Most directors, cough, cough, Michael "Pearl Harbor" Bay, would've milked this to the bone. Instead, we get all we need and probably feel more moved than if we spent 3+ hours on some strange and fictional love triangle between two of the flight attendants and one of their dogs left at home.
***
Final thoughts: Funny. Using that Batman quote in my opening was just a coincidence since Aaron Eckhart said that as Dent in The Dark Knight and played Co-Pilot Mustache here. But, even he has to see the irony.