Mild, meaningless film

Rating: 5/10 (18 September 2004)

Steven Spielberg used to tackle massive movies that were huge blockbusters and instant classics. Think Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan. Now he's busy with 'who cares?' little movies with little stories and little meaning. Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal are perfect examples of this. What has happened to Spielberg? Why is he wasting time on easily forgotten stuff like this and not concentrating his efforts on something bigger and better.
Tom Hanks is great as Victory Navorsky, the traveler from Eastern Europe who is stranded in JFK airport after war breaks out in his country. He is not allowed to leave the terminal so he settles down in an abandoned departure gate and makes a temporary home for himself. In between mild scenes of mild drama some colorful characters pop up for some mild involvement. The least of which is lecherous Catherine Zeta-Jones as Flight Attendant with no clue who ends up being a complete waste of time.
It's not so hard to believe why Dodgeball beat this to the number 1 spot this past summer. Both movies are instantly forgettable but The Terminal doesn't have much of an audience outside of pensioners (I was the only person under 60 when I went to see, in an almost empty cinema).
With Catch Me If You Can, Steven Spielberg certainly proved he can do simple, non-epic movies. But he also proved that 12 years earlier with Always. Did we really need another one? The only thing worthwhile in the Terminal is John Williams' warm musical score. Which is mild rather than magical.