Not Spielberg's best

Rating: 6/10 (24 December 2005)

Well, it doesn't happen often but it was bound to happen again - a so-so Spielberg film. The Terminal seems to be Steven Spielberg on auto-pilot, with an inexcusable amount of product placement which would make any movie-goer want to leave in the middle of the film (an example of this occurs when Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones are in a 2-shot talking to each other, with a Starbucks RIGHT in the middle of the shot - of course, you would realize that a Starbucks in right there). Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones also give so-so performances, as if they realize the script is just an average one. Oh well. The only real plus I can think of is the superb score by John Williams - he for sure wasn't on auto-pilot! An okay 6 out of 10.