My little movie review.
I've decided to post movie reviews on here. Everyone else seems to be and jeez, I'm the only one around here that knows anything about movies. (Just kidding)
The Terminal (**1/2)
Airports have always been fascinating places to me. When you’re in an airport you’re in a kind of limbo, especially on layovers. You’re not really coming or going, you’re just waiting. The main character of the Terminal, the latest film by Steven Spielberg spends most of the movie waiting, and I spent most of the movie waiting too, waiting for it to get better. Unfortunately the Terminal, pardon my pun, never quite takes off.
The Terminal is the story of a man, Viktor Navorski played by Tom Hanks from a fictional Eastern European nation. On his way to America a military coup engulfs his country in a civil war which puts Viktor in the awkward position of having no citizenry. When he reaches New York he can’t leave the airport and he can’t go back to his home. He’s stuck, or as the airport’s chief of security (Stanley Tucci) puts it, he has fallen through a crack in the system. Being unable to come of go, Viktor is forced to live in the terminal until the problem is sorted out. It’s very loosely based on the true story of an Iranian man who has been stranded at Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport since the 80’s.
This is a beautiful premise. As I said earlier, airports have always fascinated me and the idea of exploring one was very exciting to me. Not to mention that in our post-9/11-Homeland Security world, there would be a lot to explore. And that’s where I was the most disappointed. The movie avoids all that and instead focuses on Navorski as a sort of folk hero. He is accepted by the community of airport employees, most of whom are foreign, and gets involved with a flight attendant (Catherine Zeta-Jones) with a bad habit of falling for the wrong guy.
This is the kind of film Spielberg had started to move away from in the last couple of years. His 2002 films Minority Report, Catch Me if You Can and even 2001’s A.I. weren’t this syrupy. Spielberg has already more than established himself as one of the best filmmakers of his generation and it just seems like he can do better than this. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is quite funny at times and features fantastic supporting performances especially from Kumar Pallana, who fans of Wes Anderson might recognize from, well, all of his films. But there are some things that this reviewer just can’t let go. For starters, the love story between Navorski and Zeta-Jones’ character doesn’t feel earned. And it seems that Stanley Tucci’s character becomes a villain simply because the plot needed him to.
In the hands of lesser talent I might be willing to forgive most of those things but this film seems beneath them. When I was watching the movie I was entertained most of the time, but when I think of the fantastic film that could have been made with this idea and these people I feel like I just got served an airline’s version of my favorite meal.
Hey look at me, I figured out LJ cut!
The Terminal (**1/2)
Airports have always been fascinating places to me. When you’re in an airport you’re in a kind of limbo, especially on layovers. You’re not really coming or going, you’re just waiting. The main character of the Terminal, the latest film by Steven Spielberg spends most of the movie waiting, and I spent most of the movie waiting too, waiting for it to get better. Unfortunately the Terminal, pardon my pun, never quite takes off.
The Terminal is the story of a man, Viktor Navorski played by Tom Hanks from a fictional Eastern European nation. On his way to America a military coup engulfs his country in a civil war which puts Viktor in the awkward position of having no citizenry. When he reaches New York he can’t leave the airport and he can’t go back to his home. He’s stuck, or as the airport’s chief of security (Stanley Tucci) puts it, he has fallen through a crack in the system. Being unable to come of go, Viktor is forced to live in the terminal until the problem is sorted out. It’s very loosely based on the true story of an Iranian man who has been stranded at Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport since the 80’s.
This is a beautiful premise. As I said earlier, airports have always fascinated me and the idea of exploring one was very exciting to me. Not to mention that in our post-9/11-Homeland Security world, there would be a lot to explore. And that’s where I was the most disappointed. The movie avoids all that and instead focuses on Navorski as a sort of folk hero. He is accepted by the community of airport employees, most of whom are foreign, and gets involved with a flight attendant (Catherine Zeta-Jones) with a bad habit of falling for the wrong guy.
This is the kind of film Spielberg had started to move away from in the last couple of years. His 2002 films Minority Report, Catch Me if You Can and even 2001’s A.I. weren’t this syrupy. Spielberg has already more than established himself as one of the best filmmakers of his generation and it just seems like he can do better than this. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is quite funny at times and features fantastic supporting performances especially from Kumar Pallana, who fans of Wes Anderson might recognize from, well, all of his films. But there are some things that this reviewer just can’t let go. For starters, the love story between Navorski and Zeta-Jones’ character doesn’t feel earned. And it seems that Stanley Tucci’s character becomes a villain simply because the plot needed him to.
In the hands of lesser talent I might be willing to forgive most of those things but this film seems beneath them. When I was watching the movie I was entertained most of the time, but when I think of the fantastic film that could have been made with this idea and these people I feel like I just got served an airline’s version of my favorite meal.
Hey look at me, I figured out LJ cut!