The Terminal (2004)
Written by Rick Mauer
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This is one of those movies where you wonder just why they bothered to make it. The movie has a lot of big names, and talented people. Hanks and Spielberg need no introduction, and writer Andrew Niccol's past projects include more creative movies like Gattaca, The Truman Show and S1m0ne. The basic idea of this film wasn't interesting at all in the first place. |
Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, a man from the fictional country of Krakozia, where a sudden war breaks out which causes Navorski to fall through the cracks in the system leaving his documents useless. He can't get a flight back to Krakozia and he isn't allowed in the United States , and he doesn't speak a word of English. That means he's forced to live his life in the airport until the situation is resolved. He has to get by through his kindness and good will. |
Usually, I don't like to let little details about characters or little bits of information that don't quite make sense bother me and ruin the rest of what the film is trying to do. But in this movie, all it is is characters. Tom Hanks' character really bothered me. First off, I couldn't buy Tom Hanks as a foreigner |
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| with a Russian accent, but that might be just me, as he really didn't do a bad job with the accent. What really disturbed me is how inconsistent they were with the character. Sometimes he seems like a complete retard, and he turns out to be a really talented and bright guy. He doesn't speak a lick of English when he lands, yet he manages to figure out what his situation is. He runs into glass walls in the stores, yet he manages to rip out a wall and refit all the pipes by himself, and eventually teaches himself English. |
The other really poor character is the antagonist, played by Stanley Tucci who is the head of security at the airport. He forces Navorski to stay in the airport, and then is upset the next day when he is still there. As the movie goes on, he seems to be antagonistic for no reason at all. |
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| Really, the only believable character in the movie is Catherine Zeta-Jones' character and that's only because she plays a dumb slut of a stewardess. And yes, everybody is still scratching their heads over the whole Michael Douglas thing. |
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All that said the movie does have a few redeeming, cute moments, and in the middle of it, I found myself half enjoying it. It's probably one of those movies where being nice gets you ahead in life, and it makes you feel good about the world for a few minutes. But in the end, there's just too much stupid |
| shit in the movie to make it work. It's not a terrible movie, and there's obviously a good bit of talent involved in it, but don't go out of your way to watch this one. |
| RATING: 3/7 |
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