Review: Sully (2016)

Everyone loves a bit of Tom Hanks, he’s like the parfait of actors! I feel like I’ve neglected him a little lately though. Even though I tried, I just couldn’t get into Bridge of Spies last year, and I haven’t seen Inferno yet, either. I’ll catch up on the latter, promise. The trailer for Sully seems to have been everywhere in the run up to it’s release in the UK, and that clip on the plane where that lady sends what she must be thinking is her last text message makes me well up every time I see it. I don’t think my eyes have ever threatened to cry at a trailer before!

Sully (2016) is the movie retelling of the events that happened in New York on 15th January 2009 when he landed US Airways flight 1549 onto (into?) the Hudson River, after both engines failed from a bird strike shortly after take off. Captain Phillips Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) was hailed a hero after the landing when it was confirmed that all 155 passengers and crew survived, but an investigation was started to find out whether Sully could have actually turned back, or landed at a nearby airport.

I’ll admit that even though I recall this event taking place, I didn’t know any of the details, which in all honesty, makes a movie like this all the more compelling to watch. I just can’t even imagine how it must have felt to be Sully in that moment when the birds struck the engines. A few years ago when driving my car home, my brakes failed and I freaked the hell out, how on earth does someone stay so calm when both engines fail whilst flying over New York city?! It’s chilling stuff, I tell you.

As horrifying as the actual events on the plane were, it almost pales in comparison to the actions of the board in charge of the investigation. Never have a group of people in a movie made me so angry. I understand why these investigations take place, but there needs to be some human decency involved. Maybe these scenes were dramatised slightly, but they treated Sully and his co-Pilot Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) like criminals.

The scenes involving the plane’s emergency landing were so well done. It makes me wish that I’d gone to see it in IMAX. Mixed in with my feelings of rage were also soft warm feelings at the kindness of everyone involved in rescuing those 155 people. I don’t remember the exact count but it was literally a matter of minutes, rather than hours, to get everyone on dry land. I got quite teary on more than one occasion.

What I found most spectacular was during the end credits when photos were shown of actual incident back in 2009. When I say that it was a perfect re-enactment, I’m not exaggerating in the slightest. It’s uncanny!

So it’s thumbs up all round from me, but an extra thumb for Tom Hanks, who is an acting chameleon in more than one way. Here he is as Sully, next to the actual Sully, and here he also is, doing his best impression of Bill Murray. Just kidding, that’s actually Bill Murray himself, but this is my favourite celebrity photo of 2016!

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, Sully gets 4 planes out of 5 from me.