Sully

Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart

"The untold Story behind

the Miracle on the Hudson"

This film is based on actual events which occurred on January 15, 2009 when Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger safely landed US Airways flight 1549 on the Hudson River without any casualties among the 155 passengers + crew on board.

It was considered a miracle as the plane was still intact and all souls were saved. It was a quick decision on Capt. Sully's part as he felt the plane could not make it back to La Guardia airport in time. A calm demeanor amidst a crisis and armed with a confidence that can only come from years of experience as a seasoned pilot, his bold move affirms that Sully made the correct judgment call.

This Clint Eastwood directed film takes a look at the behind the scenes during the grueling hours that Capt. Sully and First Officer Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) endured during the fact finding investigation which followed after the emergency landing on the Hudson. While Sully was feted by the mainstream media as a hero for his actions, his decision was being scrutinized and analyzed by several agencies tasked to investigate the crash.  It is during these interrogations that we are shown flash back scenes of the suspenseful minutes before, during and after the emergency landing.

Sully is ably portrayed by THE Tom Hanks who can be relied upon to play any role, brilliantly. But the fact remains that the direction/angle that Eastwood concentrated on does not really reveal the true persona of Sully. So this won't qualify as a biopic but merely an interesting chapter in Sully's life. 

Even Sully's family wasn't portrayed effectively as we only see Laura Linney in a brief role as his patient wife who waits by the phone to hear any updates about her heroic husband. The passengers too are just nameless individuals not thoroughly fleshed out and they just happened to be on the ill-fated plane which was struck by birds upon take-off thus causing both engines to fail.

There is no doubt that Tom Hanks was the main draw of the film and he did a good job. So even if the story deserved to be told, it didn't quite take off as expected and it needed a miracle to succeed as an effective chronicle of a heroic incident.