Sully

I don't care what Superman says about air travel. I still don't like to fly. It's game over if I get in a crash. Game over. Maybe I won't be worried if someone like Captain Sully was on board. But enough about me, let's talk about Sully.

By the time Sully opens, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) has already pulled off the Miracle on the Hudson. But he's haunted by nightmares of what could have happened. The NTSB isn't convinced that Sully's maneuver was necessary. Their simulations say Sully could have landed in a nearby airport without difficulty. For this, they plan to hold a hearing. And it may ground Sully forever.

The affair puts Sully's career in retrospective. From trainee to fighter pilot ... though it never explains how he started flying commercial. The Miracle on the Hudson also unfolds through flashbacks following Sully and his co-pilot Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart), various passengers and the first responders. Those who were there agree that Sully's maneuver was necessary. Now they'll have to convince the NTSB.

Clint Eastwood realizes Todd Komarnicki's script (from Sully's memoir, Highest Duty) into cinematic form. The result is good but not perfect. The Miracle on the Hudson plays out three times, but it could have been edited into one. After all, some scenes repeat in those flashbacks. The film's conflict is Sully's looming showdown with the NTSB and his nightmares. It's like an hour-long movie stretched out into 96 minutes. A few more scenes with Sully pre-Hudson would have been nice.

The film stays in flight because of the cast. Hanks makes Sully an affable person and calm pilot. He lets us into both Sully's personal and professional lives. We admire and emphasize with him as he confronts the aftermath of the Hudson. Eckhart is also good as Skiles, who helps ease Sully's pain with warm humor. He even delivers a memorable quip for a closing line. Other memorable supporting roles come from Laura Linney, as Sully's wife, and Patch Paragh as air traffic controller Patrick Harten,

Guiding the film through friendly skies is the technical crew. The air disasters, both real and nightmare, were realized perfectly by the visual effects team, sound designers and editor Blu Murray. Cinematographer Tom Stern's best work is visualizing the frigidness of the Hudson on that day. The music by Christian Jacob and the Tierney Sutton Band is low key and memorable. The story and tone are subdued and the crew did wonders to realize it.

Sully is an admirable story of a real-life hero. A good cast makes the flight worth it. It just needed some more relevant details to zoom past the turbulence. A few dramatic liberties were taken, particularly with the NTSB, but I've seen worse. I think this is one of Eastwood's best films in a long while.