June 27, 2004
The Terminal
Critic: Steph Lewis
On a scale of 0 to Awesome, I rate this: Tolerable
Released: June 18, 2004
Director: Steven Spielberg
MPAA Rating: PG-13, for brief language and drug references
Tom Hanks is a phenomenal actor. That being said, this movie has a swiss cheese of a plot. While some parts are delicious and beautiful...other parts have some serious serious holes.
The story is about Viktor Navorski (Hanks), a guy from an Eastern Europe country that falls apart while Viktor is in the air. So, he gets stranded in the Kennedy airport until his passport can be cleared...which takes a long long time since he kind of fell through the cracks in the system. Catherine Zeta Jones plays an airline stewardess named Amelia and some minor sparks fly between her and Victor. Stanley Tucci plays Frank Dixon, the lead official dude who has some kind of unexplained ego issue.
Hanks is able to pull off this incredible warmth and depth. The thing I love the most about him is that, even though he's Tom Hanks, big-wig actor, I forget about the actor and am absorbed in his character. Victor Navorski was believalbe and genuine from start to finish.
As for the holes... First of all, Frank Dixon is this low, shallow guy. Why? We don't know. He obviously has some kind of need bureaucratic power. Because we cannot see WHY, it makes his character seem two-dimensional and fakey. I don't know of a human that would seriously allow for someone to live in an airport that long...it's so inhumane and crazy. But, apparently Frank Dixon would and we're just supposed to believe that.
I read a bunch of reviews that said that Zeta-Jones was terrible in this movie. I expected her to not pull of sparks with Hanks because I think she's more of a cold-hearted actress. But, hey, let's give her a try. So, I'm watching the movie, when it dawns on me. This script sucks. Especially all of the parts where she's written in. Her character is a flakey woman who bends at the whims of her pilot (?) boyfriend. Why is she like this? Why does she care about Viktor? Why does she say such stupid things that no human would ever say? Again, we don't know. But, I do give kudos to Zeta-Jones for doing the best she could with such a shallowly written character.
There are a couple of scenes that I like because of the nice shots and great sets. I love the place where Navorski kind of makes his living space. There's some great flourescent lighting with cheesy airline music and all that. Beautiful work on set and lighting.
I have other issues with the plot, but don't want to tick off anyone who hasn't seen it yet. So, I say it's not worth seeing unless you're really really bored on some Sunday afternoon and it happens to be the featured flick on cable that week. Save your movie money or rental money for something *ah-hem*...better.
Posted by stephlewis at June 27, 2004 10:29 AM