Review of Sully (2016) by Ben B — 23 Dec 2016

Sully was directed by Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby, American Sniper) and stars Tom Hanks as Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger, a real-life airline pilot who emergency-landed a commercial flight into the Hudson River without a single casualty. The film depicts the events of the incident and its aftermath, focusing on Sully's PTSD and investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Anybody who has ever seen a movie knows who Tom Hanks is and knows what quality of acting he brings to the table on a consistent basis. Sully is no different. Hanks carries the weight of this film on his shoulders and delivers once again in an award-worthy capacity as this incredibly humble hero. Eastwood is no stranger to these true American stories and does a solid job manning the helm here. I really enjoyed the order in which events played out as well; the splicing of the incident here and there throughout the film really helped the pacing.

My one gripe with Sully is how the NTSB was portrayed to be this antagonistic and sinister board of white-collared money grubbers. It stood out to me in the movie to the point where I did some digging into the real events, and it turns out that a lot of other viewers had that same issue. Just because it's a big corporation with an acronym doesn't mean it's a bad group. It just felt a bit too left-winged in that regard.

Overall, Tom Hanks alone makes Sully a worthwhile use of your 90 minutes. I have no doubt he'll be nominated for an Academy Award (for more reasons than his quality performance, but that's an issue to discuss another time). Go watch this feel-good drama today, y'all!

Final grade: B+.

-Ben.