certainly watchable but expected more from Spielberg

Rating: Null/10 (19 September 2004)

The huge talented Tom Hanks stars an immigrant coming from eastern Europe stuck in New York JFK airport. When a coup d'etat occurs in his country and the government is overthrown, Viktor (the character played by the former Forrest Gump), whose visa is revoked, is forced to spend months and months in the terminal. The director depicts the theme of hell experienced by immigrants searching for the American dream and finding biases, mistrust and arrogance; it does that telling about this man getting by on few words of English (by the way, how could he learn that? It seems strange he can get to order a meal in Mc) and on the sympathy of some strangers who secretly support his struggle against the power. The movie basic idea is innovative and fitting for these times we find ourselves in; nevertheless, the love affair between Hanks and Catherine Zeta Jones gets a bit too complicated and the heartbreaking ending too obvious. Plus, for this kind of story 90 minutes would have been enough.