Sully: Miracle on the Hudson

Somehow this film had passed me by, and when we decided to screen it I was interested to see it but did not expect anything special: I was wrong...

When I started researching the film for my notes I realised who the director was, and then I read the full details of the landing (not a crash) and, more importantly, the subsequent events.

I enjoyed the film very much, and even though you know right from the beginning that the plane will land safely, the script is structured in such a way as to keep you on the edge of your seat all the way through. Needless to say the performances are excellent, with Tom Hanks in particular deserving all the credit for what could have been seen as a two dimensional character.

Here are my notes:

USA 2016        96 minutes

Director:          Clint Eastwood

Starring:            Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart and Laura Linney

Awards and Nominations

• Oscar Nomination for Sound Editing
• A further 12 wins and 32 nominations

“Sully is a beautifully balanced, classily nuanced and hugely engaging film that avoids all the clichéd pitfalls it could have slipped into. Tom Hanks gives one of the best performances of his career and Clint Eastwood's direction is beautiful and rich. It's not just a great movie, Sully is one of the best pieces of cinema that a major Hollywood studio has released this year.”

Simon Thompson

When his Airbus A320 strikes a flock of birds Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) loses power in both engines. He judges that it will be impossible to reach nearby airports safely and so ditches the aircraft in the Hudson River. The passengers and crew are evacuated without casualty and a subsequent enquiry by the National Transportation Safety Board finally confirms that Sully’s decision to ditch in the river was the best option open to him.

The film is based on Sully’s autobiography Highest Duty which the producers of the film purchased and then developed a screenplay with Todd Komarnicki. Sullenberger’s stated desire was the film should incorporate “that sense of our common humanity” and noted that the event had occurred shortly after the 2008 Recession. He explained:

“People were wondering if everything was about self-interest and greed. They were doubting human nature. Then all these people acted together, selflessly, to get something really important done. In a way, I think it gave everyone a chance to have hope, at a time when we all needed it.”

For Kormanicki the main challenge faced in writing his screenplay was not the known outcome of the actual landing, but rather the investigation that followed:

“It wasn't really a challenge of what to do with the event since that is the thing everyone knows about, it was more about how you parse out the information about the man slowly falling apart and becoming a hero in the eyes of the world when internally and with the investigators it was actually seemingly going the other way.”

The film received its premier at the 2016 Telluride Film Festival and then went on general release on 9^th September. Warner Bros. had initially been hesitant about releasing the film on the fifteenth Anniversary of the September 11 attacks, but nonetheless went ahead with this release date and explained its reasoning on the grounds that “Sully is a story of hope and a real hero who did his job.”

The film was well reviewed on its release, with both Hanks and Eastwood being singled out for their work. Peter Debruge gave the film a positive review as well as specifically praising Hanks:

 "This is Hanks' show, and he delivers a typically strong performance, quickly allowing us to forget that we're watching an actor. With his snowy white hair and moustache to match, Hanks conveys a man confident in his abilities, yet humble in his actions, which could also be said of Eastwood as a director."

The American Film Institute selected Sully as one of its ten Movies of the Year.

Several major airlines decided not to include the film within their on-board entertainment systems, although Virgin has shown the film.

Here is the trailer: