Not bad, but not Spielberg at his best either

Rating: 7/10 (5 July 2005)

There's no doubting that Spielberg knows the workings of cinema well enough to ensure that his movies are always entertaining, but sometimes he doesn't choose his projects all that wisely. The man is at his best when he's got a huge budget and a long list of stunts to play with; and he showed this with his Indiana Jones trilogy and Jurassic Park films. When Spielberg attempts drama, the results are often mixed. Schindler's List stunk of a blockbuster director trying to win an Oscar, and while it doesn't look like Spielberg was going for gold with this picture; the movie doesn't quite bode right, and much of the drama seems forced or overly sentimental. This makes the film hard to take seriously at times, especially since many of the events in the film are completely detached from reality. The extremely swift wedding ceremony sticks out the most. The plot, based on a true story, follows Viktor Navorski; an Eastern European man who finds himself stranded in a New York airport when his country goes to war and isn't letting anyone in or out. He then, through lack of other options, decides to take up residency in the airport itself.
In 2004, Tom Hanks delivered an outstandingly over the top performance in the Coen's remake of the Ealing classic, The Ladykillers. The Terminal sees Hanks delivering another over the top performance, but it's not half as good this time. Hanks' put on European accent isn't bad, but it quickly becomes annoying. His dumb antics are another thing that becomes annoying all too quickly, and after about an hour; the premise begins to show signs of becoming tired. Catherine Zeta-Jones is Hanks' massively underdeveloped love interest. It is this aspect that is the film's main downfall. The romance between these two is hardly explored and it happens all too quickly. It therefore feels like an afterthought in an underdeveloped movie. It isn't all woe for this film, however, as the movie does have it's good points. Spielberg does a surprisingly good job of setting up his protagonist's plight and the way that we are constantly reminded of the predicament that the immigrant is in, is good. On the whole, this is worth watching; but Spielberg has been better, and far more entertaining, than this on many occasions.