Entertaining And Mesmerizing

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2011)

Shot almost entirely on a two-and-a-half-story recreation of a full-size operating airport terminal, this romantic comedy entitled,The Terminal from director Steven Spielberg revolves around Viktor Navorski.
The Terminal is a comedy-drama film that stars Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones together with Stanley Tucci,Barry Shabaka Henley,Kumar Pallana and Diego Luna. It is about a man trapped in a terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when he is denied entry into the United States and at the same time cannot return to his native country, the fictitious Krakozhia, due to a revolution. It is partially inspired by the 18-year-stay of Mehran Karimi Nasseri in the Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Terminal I, Paris, France from 1988 to 2006.
An Eastern European man by the name of Viktor Navorski,whose plans of immigrating to New York were hastened by a violent coup in his home country. Unfortunately, Viktor finds himself on the wrong end of a nasty technicality while en route to America: His passport was issued from a country, which, during its upheaval, ceased to exist in an official capacity. Unauthorized to leave Kennedy Airport upon his arrival and unable to return home, Viktor finds himself exiled inside the terminal's international transit lounge. Though airport official Frank Dixon views Viktor as an annoying bureaucratic glitch, other airport employees -- including a beautiful flight attendant by the name of Amelia -- come to see him as a welcome, if unofficial, addition to their numbers. As the days stretch on into months, the terminal transforms from an intimidating atmosphere of forced assimilation into a country within itself, complete with culture, ambition, status, complex diversity, and the need for love.
This is an amazing film for the story threads that play out enjoyably, and other threads end up going nowhere as it was played completely in one location: the airport terminal. Enjoy the film from scene to scene, since there are definite pleasures along the way. I commend Hanks for his brilliant portrayal of Victor Navorski for he was excellent in keeping the viewers interest and sympathy towards him from the beginning to the end of the film.Also,I applaud Spielberg for delving into some new territory that was never explored in other films in the past. Although some may not be satisfied with Spielberg's direction,I still find this movie truly entertaining and mesmerizing.