Holds ups mostly thanks to Tom Hanks

Rating: 7/10 (6 December 2014)

The Terminal is a guilty pleasure of mine. It's not a movie I watch often, but it makes me smile when I see it.
The movie is loosely based on a true story about a Iranian guy who lived in a French airport for 3 years. Basically Tom Hanks plays Viktor, a middle age man who came from a small (and fictional) Eastern European country that falls into a state of civil war. Because of a coup by the military the old government has fallen and the United States refuses to recognize the new government. All this happens while Viktor is on a flight to JFK International Airport in New York City. Because of the situation is visa is no longer recognized as valid and the US is not accepting his passport and because of the war he has no way of going home. Viktor is effectively trapped in the international passenger terminal at JFK.
And this is really the best parts of the movie. Viktor doesn't speak English and doesn't understand what he's being told and there is this great scene while he watches in horror news coverage of the war and not understand a word of it; just that war broke out in his country. Viktor literally makes gate 26 (which is out of service because of construction) his home. I enjoyed the movie the most watching him figuring things out like how to get money to eat, how he makes friends with the airport employees, or how he learns English. He's such an earnest and clever man that you can't help like him and that's what makes this movie work.
The cons of this movie is the romantic subplot that is deeply unsatisfying and while does at least have some impact on the plot, leaves me thinking this didn't need to be here. The other thing is the movie is a shameless whore. It's almost funny how much product placement there is. Boss, Discovery Store, Starbucks, Borders, Burger King, etc. are visible at nearly every shot.
Also the antagonist of this movie doesn't make sense. Basically it's this Homeland Security guy who just doesn't like Viktor. I think this might be some commentary on our system, but his superiors tell him he could learn a thing or two from Viktor and it just seems that problem is just with this one guy. He seems to make it personal. They don't take it to over-the-top levels.
Still, Tom Hanks is really good and it holds up for me. If it comes up for rental or on TV it's not a bad sit.