Sully marks the first collaboration between Tom Hanks and Clint Eastwood and I certainly hope it will not be the last. Together they have crafted one of the year’s most involving films regarding one of the most alarming plane crashes in recent U.S. history.
Hanks plays Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, an airline pilot with 40 years experience under his belt. On the morning of January 15, 2009, he was called to fly a flight departing from LaGuardia airport in New York when a flock of geese disables both engines and sends the plane downward. Sully, using his aviation expertise, decides that he can’t turn back to LaGuardia and instead ditches the plane in the Hudson where all 155 souls on board survive the crash.
Sully is immediately praised as a hero for his efforts, but he comes under intense scrutiny from the National Transportation Safety Board who had other theories about what he should’ve done. Aaron Eckhart costars as his copilot, Jeff Skiles.
We get only a handful of flashbacks regarding Sully’s background as to why he wanted to become a pilot and some of the film consists of interactions between the press, people on the street and occasional phone calls to his wife (Laura Linney).
Hanks and Eastwood are in top form delivering a film that works simultaneously as a piece of phenomenal entertainment as well as doing service to a history-making event. Just as he did with American Sniper, Eastwood’s technical prowess is on full display and Hanks portrays Sully not necessarily as a hero, but simply as a man who just showed up to do his job that day. It’s a note-perfect performance that should be considered a cardinal sin if he isn’t nominated for Best Actor.
As of right now, when I make my 10 best list of 2016, be expecting Sully to crack the top five.
Grade: A
(Rated PG-13 for some peril and brief strong language.)
