Friday, September 9, 2016

Movie Review: "Sully"

Clint Eastwood's latest directorial effort, Sully, is a movie worthy of the accolades it has received.  Detailing the true story of the Miracle on the Hudson and the NTSB investigation that followed for pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (played with extreme likability by Tom Hanks), Sully is another strong movie in a string of recent hits for Mr. Eastwood.  While it would be very easy to wonder how a 90-minute drama could be created detailing an event that occurred in about two minutes of real time, screenwriter Todd Komarnicki tells the story non-linearly to keep a sense of momentum.  One way that Komarnicki and Eastwood help keep the story fresh is they revisit the crash at multiple intervals and detail it from a different perspective -- similar to Akira Kursoawa's classic, Rashomon.  By doing this in parallel with the NTSB investigation, Sully maintains a sense of white knuckle suspense for the entirety of the movie.  That is the true brilliance of this movie.  While we already know how the story ends, Clint Eastwood manages to keep our stomach tied up in knots because of his smart directorial choices, using minimal music and not overplaying the actual crash but showing it as it harrowingly happened in real life.

I give Sully a 9 out of 10!