By Brett Blake Some will write off SULLY as simple Oscar bait, another Clint Eastwood movie targeting, well, let’s say the more senior members of the audience. Those who take this attitude will find themselves missing out on a satisfying, feel-good tale, one marked by fine technical craftsmanship and a pair of very strong performances from Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart. Detailing one of the more miraculous real life events of the past 10 years, SULLY tells the tale of airline pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger (Tom Hanks), who - along with his co-pilot Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) and the rest of the flight crew - pulled off a spectacular water landing on the Hudson River after their airplane suffered twin engine failure. Taking up only parts of the running time, this incident is the backdrop for a look at how Sully navigates his newfound fame and deals with a somewhat antagonist NTSB investigation into the incident. Clint Eastwood’s directorial style can be summed up (for me) with two words: extraordinary competence. That might sound like a backhanded compliment, but I really don’t mean it as such. Actual competence is not something that should be taken for granted when it comes to movies, and Eastwood’s films - some more flawed than others - are always well-made, handsome productions that have real thought and care put into them. SULLY is no different; it finds Eastwood tackling a more crowd-pleasing subject than normal for him, and the result is an optimistic and uplifting movie. Low-key, but very heartfelt and earnest. The film is a tribute to one man’s heroism, yes, but it’s also an ode to the idea that human beings - for all our flaws - are capable of courage and goodness in extreme circumstances. So often, it seems, that desperate situations bring out the very worst in people, but here we have a story about a dire event bringing out the very best in people, and on that level alone, SULLY really worked for me. I was genuinely moved by the quiet, everyman decency embodied by Hanks in his performance, and I was struck by how invested I was in the story’s outcome, even though I already knew the particulars. It’s a testament to Clint Eastwood’s acumen and talent that the movie never tips over into schmaltz but is always deeply connected to the underling emotions tied to the story. Coming after the blistering intensity of AMERICAN SNIPER, it’s wonderful to see Eastwood in a gentler - though no less effective - mode. The screenplay by Todd Komarnicki does some interesting things with the structure of the story; the movie picks up after the central incident has already happened, as Sully and Skiles are being investigated by the NTSB. Then, a sizable chunk of the middle of the movie is taken up by lengthy flashback sequences to the event, which we view from multiple points-of-view: the flight crew, the passengers, the people at Air Traffic Control, everyday New Yorkers catching sight of the plane’s descent towards the Hudson, the ferries which powered to the plane to rescue the stranded passengers... Taken as a singular section of film, this sequence is one of the strongest Eastwood has ever staged, highlighting both Sully’s incredible and singular accomplishment, and also the ways in which various New Yorkers banded together to help. In that sense, the film is actually a great New York movie, and a little bit of a love letter to the city and its inhabitants (Tom Stern’s cinematography presents the city in a very evocative and appealing way). As the titular Sully, Tom Hanks is every bit as wonderful as you’d hope he would be. He’s beautifully understated and extremely effective; he never feels like he’s ACTING, here, and he never delivers an inauthentic moment. Hanks’ interpretation of Sullenberger is that of an ultra-composed, humble professional, and he feels completely like a real human being, one who is not seeking recognition and is fulfilled by the knowledge that he did his job well and didn’t lose the life of a single passenger under his watch. One of the more surprising things about the movie is how good Aaron Eckhart is as Skiles; don’t get me wrong, I’ve always like Eckhart, but he’s really, really good in SULLY, complimenting Hanks’ work with a nice level of dry, restrained-but-sarcastic humor and a bit of simmering indignation over how the NTSB investigation is treating Sully. It’s the sort of supporting performance that doesn’t get nominated for awards, but it would be a very deserving one if it were to happen. One of SULLY’s biggest achievements is that it takes an event pretty much everybody has at least a passing knowledge of and makes it engrossing. It takes conversations in meeting rooms about that event and makes them compelling. It takes your standard “airplane crash sequence” tropes and makes them feel fresh and vital. It tells a story that, ultimately, sends the viewer out of the theater feeling good. In an age where so much of the news and media we consume is dark and upsetting, it’s nice to feel elevated and positive. SULLY did that for me.
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