Simple children's fable uselessly made into PG-13

Rating: 5/10 (21 May 2005)

This movie is exactly what I expected. A foreign traveler is forced to stay in the airport while his passport/visa is sorted out. I heard of the story a long time ago and found it interesting even then. But, I suspect that the real story is stranger than fiction as usual, and finally am disappointed with the film for a number of reasons.
Tom Hanks is good in this film. He looks the part: a simple, fretful, not particularly stunning individual who cannot speak the language. But I wonder if there wasn't a bit of stereotyping that is somewhat passé here, which become tiresome rather quickly. In fact, all the characters seem to have been a product of generic outlining, without nuance or distinctly humanistic individualism.
For example, Amelia the Stewardess fit into most of our collective impressions of what a stewardess is all about. As in Catch me if you Can, the Stewardess is a pretty, young, somewhat vapid but adventuresome girl who is not a mother, a daughter or a wife. I wonder if Mr. Spielberg has something about stewardesses! But to be serious, Amelia was a not a disappointment as she acted the stewardess stereotype. And her final act had nothing to do with "sacrificing herself" for Viktor, but rather as an apology for hurting Viktor by returning to her married lover. And that's all, folks.
I loved the Indian Janitor. He was funny. One wonders how many times people throw up in the middle of floors judging by the number of "wet floor" signs appear in obscure, right-in-the-way places. From now on, I will look for the janitor watching! But some questions: so why did he walk out to get caught? He didn't know that security knew what he was all about  which brings me to a second question: why hadn't they deported him till now? The Indian came to America to escape what he had to face back home. It was cowardly, and he knew it, but lived with it and became wary and unfulfilled. Viktor retained his dignity and honesty but not admitting he feared his homeland in order to get out of the terminal, and this was inspiring to the Janitor, and he decided to do the right thing and head home. I don't believe he "sacrificed" himself in order to keep Viktor from being deported. And that says more about Viktor's character, and the janitor's for that matter, than the "sacrifice" idea.
The romance between the customs agent Torres and Luna is funny  first, her name  Torres, from Star Trek Voyager - and she is a "trekkie", as is he. So now we know that they are riding on a different cloud than us, and that "trekkie" thing is apparently pretty darn important. So love at first ring shouldn't be so strange  it's just that she doesn't "look" like a typical "trekkie" convention goer, I guess, and usually girls that stunning don't go for immigrant food handlers...but maybe that's just observation and experience talking. It certainly was optimistic! Viktor's ode to Amelia of the fountain was just plain weird. Why didn't it work? Because it represented how the relationship would never work, I suppose, or foreshadowed how he would never be able to make the relationship work, but it seemed like a big waste of film time  I didn't get much out of it, and frankly, it looked ugly.
And then, finally, Viktor's reason for coming to America  to get a signature for his dad. A lot of money for a poor country guy to fly to America for one hour or so to get a signature and fly home. Now that is the most unrealistic thing I have ever heard. If you are going to work all your life (which judging by Viktor's clothes and demeanor, it looks like he wasn't wealthy) for a ticket to America and then stay for an hour, that was just plain unbelievable. Perhaps it was supposed to smack of the chicness of Catch Me if You Can, but it failed and wasn't a surprise ending.
This wasn't a film that really caught the real story behind the strangeness of a scenario where a man is caught between countries. It didn't catch it and exploit the ludicrousness of the situation, or the comical take on it either. The film seemed to straddle between children's fable and simplistic entertainment. From the simple no-goodness of the security chief to the simple sweetness of the big security guy, this was not a film that would tickle anyone's intellectual funny bone, and frankly, I don't think it was intended as such. If the few swear/sexual words uttered by the inglorious Amelia and the drug smuggling scene were cut out, this could have been a good teaching movie for kids.