 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The Terminal - 6/18/04 - PG-13 - 128m
Tom Hanks - Viktor Navorski
Catharine Zeta-Jones - Amelia Warren
Stanley Tucci - Frank Dixon
Director: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Andrew Niccol & Sacha Gervasi
Studio: Dreamworks
Official
Website
JEF
I really thought this film would be the one to break the long string of “red and yellow light” films we’ve seen this year. But unfortunately I had to go with a yellow light on this one.
Storyline: Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) flies into the JFK airport from his home somewhere near Russia. But in an unfortunate turn of events, his country is thrown into political turmoil and war, and is not recognized by the USA as a real country, which messes up all of Viktor’s passport, and ID papers. As Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci), head of airport security points out, “he’s fallen into a crack in the system”. So as a remedy Viktor is not allowed to leave the airport and enter US soil. Viktor makes for the best of things, and takes up residence at gate 67 in the airport.
I must start off by praising Tom Hanks on this one. I really enjoyed his work on this film, and it’s another example of Tom’s talent as an actor - much better work than his last film in “The Ladykillers”. But even Tom couldn’t save this storyline from turning bad.
The film is heavy on “cuteness” and not much for storyline. Sure there is a story, and some of it makes sense, and is entertaining, but somewhere into the film, it really turned sour for me. Maybe I could only take so much of the cuteness. I can’t really point to one defining moment; it was just a feeling of tediousness. It felt like a 3-hour movie, when in fact it was only 128 minutes.
I think I most enjoyed the character Gupta (Kumar Pallana) who I recognized from “The Royal Tenenbaums”. Gupta had some great one-liners and sight gags. As a matter of fact, this was one of the smaller details that bothered me about the direction (sorry Mr. Spielberg) I felt that several of the funnier parts of the film were cut short. I don’t think they were given enough time to be truly funny, just enough to make you smile or chuckle.
Either this was pure genius, or a marketing ploy (or both) but the commercial time for the various stores in the film was pushing it. Sure these stores probably due exist in the real JFK airport, but it all had a very “commercial” feel to it. Barnes and Noble must have loved this film, as I think they had the most screen time.
Finally the supporting cast was really great too. Catherine Zeta-Jones did a good job (not great, but good). Stanley Tucci (who I am a fan of) did a good job playing the villain. Chi McBride had a good supporting role as well.
My advice… maybe just being aware of the heavy “cute” factor would be enough to enjoy this film. Don’t think too hard about the plot, and ask questions – you might enjoy this movie. Or take what fun and entertaining moments you can, but I kinda hoped this would be another classic Tom Hanks movie. I was disappointed.
Jef
Here’s what Lyn thought…
