Sully
2016 was not the year of Eastwood like I expected it to be.
Sully is Clint Eastwood's latest drama based on the book 'Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters' written by Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger. During the winter of 2009 American Airlines flight 1549 suffered multiple bird strikes rendering both engines useless. Captain Sullenberger and co-pilot Jeff Skiles had to make the decision of turning back to LaGuardia Airport while losing altitude rapidly or ditching in the Hudson River. From taking off to landing on the Hudson, the two pilots had 208 seconds to make the decision of turning back to LaGuardia and potentially killing all 155 passengers onboard plus multiple civilians or landing on the Hudson and potentially saving everybody onboard. All 155 people on flight 1549 survived, some escaping with only minor injuries. It really was a miracle seeing as there have been 20 forced water landings between the years of 1952-2011 and the event is a one in a kind seeing as everybody escaped with their lives.
I went into Sully partially blind, only having watched one trailer, and honestly that one trailer blew me away. It was intense and thrilling. I can't say that about the movie itself. For Clint Eastwood I was quite disappointed, the pacing was slow and I was just waiting for the movie to cut back to the cockpit in the heat of the incident. Everything other than the take off to water landing is very slow, this is due to uninteresting story in-between; that being the court case. Like any court case drama, it is difficult to find the right balance between the courtroom and the larger story at hand. I think that the movie A Time to Kill really has the perfect balance between court and the drama outside the court, but with Sully I feel as though that balance isn't there.
Don't get me wrong, there were some great aspects to this movie! One in which I have already thoroughly highlighted is the scenes within the cockpit and cabin. Another very good aspect to the film is that the performances were fantastic, Tom Hanks once again proves that he is one of the best actors alive. Aaron Eckhart's performance was almost on par with Tom Hanks' which is saying something! I also think the film was very well shot. There was this one shot that really stood out to me and really resonated with me, that shot was of when the aircraft was going down and the plane is just gliding through the air while Manhattan is getting closer and closer, and the aircraft is getting closer and closer to the water. I just love how the camera smoothly glides along with the aircraft, almost as if we (the audience) are looking down upon the craft from our own passenger plane.
In conclusion I think that Clint Eastwood's latest directorial instalment is possibly his weakest so far, but captivating performances by Hanks and Eckhart save the film from a much lower rating for me. I also think that the dramatic 'ditching' scene was great too and was one of the parts that pulled me in the most.
Overall I would give Sully a 7.0/10.
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