Spielberg + Hanks = ??

Rating: 4/10 (19 December 2004)

Usually it equals a great experience (SPR, Band of Brothers, Catch me if you can). But this is not the case with Terminal. The magic did not happen, instead it was simply one bad cliché after another. Let's also not forget it was one giant commercial for Burger King, Sabarro's, and especially Borders Books. This was tasteless, lifeless, boring drivel. It was way too long. The customs agent/ food worker love story was weak and meaningless, not to mention that about 1/3 of the way into the movie was the focus of the story and then for 45 minutes there is no mention of it whatsoever. Time progression was handled poorly, I think they said he was there 9 months but you would have never been able to guess that from the movie, I would have guessed 3 months tops. He seemingly went from being English illiterate to quite fluent in a manner of days.
I think Hanks did a decent job with his character and the cinematography was good but the movie was just flat. I can only assume it has a ranking of 7 here at IMDb out of respect to Hanks and Spielberg. If it had been a different director and actor I think it would have the 4-5 rating it deserves. I give it a 4.