What a wonderful movie!

Rating: 10/10 (20 September 2010)

Steven Spielberg's "The Terminal" is in my honest opinion, as fine and funny a comedy as any ever made. By adapting a similar approach to a French filmmaker that Spielberg admired and taking a style nostalgic of Frank Capra's best, he created an extraordinary little film that is very humorous and rich with quality and depth. I have continually regarded Steven Spielberg as the finest director working in Hollywood today and one of the all-time masters of his craft. "The Terminal" exemplifies his range of talents as he can make harrowing epics like "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan," thrillers like "Jaws," exercises of awe ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Jurassic Park") and he know how to make a comedy that can not only generate a few genuine laughs, but make you grin and warm your heart. And that is what he accomplished with "The Terminal." Instead of a slapstick would-be laugher with tiresome clichés and aggravating characters, Spielberg reverts back to that wonderful era of sweet, inoffensive gentleness with charming characters and fascinating scenarios. His star is Tom Hanks, playing a man from a fictional Eastern European nation. Hanks arrives at a New York airport terminal on the same day his country is embroiled in a war and as such, officially ceases to exist. Because of this and a complicated reason explained by the immigrations official marvelously played by Stanley Tucci, he cannot leave the terminal and must live there until further notice. Without a country and with few belongings, Hanks's character of Viktor Navorski begins to adapt to life in the terminal, getting to know the employees, and befriending a beautiful but unhappy flight attendant (Catherine Zeta-Jones).
This is a wonderful, original premise inspired by a true story. Mr. Spielberg's production designer Alex McDowell constructed a life-sized set of an airport terminal using jet hangars and the detail is absolutely extraordinary. It is nearly a sin that McDowell's name did not appear on the Oscar nominees list the following year. But the real genius in how this set is used goes to Mr. Spielberg. When he started out as a filmmaker, Spielberg was regarded as the expert on lenses and lights. He can do that and direct drama efficiently at the same time. The way he creatively uses lights and camera movement is absolutely fantastic, creating a sense of joy and humor in the physical elements of the picture as well as the story. The floors and ceilings are so wonderfully lit that it makes an airport terminal, usually thought of as being dull and boring, seem like a beautiful paradise.
But Mr. Spielberg's true genius is the way he directs this story and directs his actors. Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Hanks make a more than effective team and wonderfully construct this character, who is not made into an utter bumbler or aggravating, but as a lovable, optimistic man who is making the best out of what he has. His character reminds me of characters played by James Stewart and Joe E. Brown in the good old days. Mr. Hanks does not go around punching people's lights out or running around naked as a lot of comedians these days are reduced into doing. And yet, when using his accent, he never goes over the top. He never strikes a false note. It's one of Hanks's most sweet and pleasant performances since "Big" and "Forrest Gump." Also enthralling about the story is the way Hanks (and we) delve into life at the terminal. What goes on when one works there. We get to know the people, such as a lovesick employee (Diego Luna), a loyal but unsure security chief (Chi McBride), and a suspicious janitor (Kumar Pallana) with a past.
However, the most enchanting and wonderful scenes, the ones that remind me so much of Frank Capra's classics, are the moments between Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is enchantingly great as the flight attendant he befriends. It is truly fascinating to watch the friendship between these two wonderfully constructed and acted characters develop into something very pure. Zeta-Jones is absolutely wonderful in her role and her character is not a cut-out or two-dimensional. She is not slutty or provocative. She is a three-dimensional human being with an involving story. Just the same as the character played by Hanks. Mr. Spielberg is an artist. The great critic Gene Siskel once said that great directors play their audiences like a piano. In these moments, Mr. Spielberg does better. He plays on our hearts like he would a violin. And he's pulling on the strings to produce something beautiful.
"The Terminal" is one of the highlights of my recent movie-going experiences. I loved every single bit of it. When I first saw the picture shortly after its released, it absorbed me and drew me in hook, line, and sinker. Now looking on it for a second time, I can only say that I've come to adore it more and that this shall mount up as two viewings multiply. What a wonderful movie!