The Terminal Movie Review:


Can you possibly imagine what it is like to be a person who doesn’t exist? A freak of nature that has slipped through the cracks of our society. How can this happen? What is he or she to do? How can we fix the problem?

In the new film from director Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, an Eastern European airline traveler who touches down in the sea of chaos known as New York City’s JFK International Airport. As Viktor exits his plane and proceeds through immigration, our story begins.

Unbeknownst to Viktor, because he can barely speak a word of English, his homeland of Krakozhia has erupted into a military coo and many government officials have been killed. Krakozhia becomes an unrecognized country by the United States government and thus Viktor’s visitor’s visa has become void. In other words, Viktor has no country, no citizenship and no home.

This is all desperately explained to Viktor by airport official Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci) but to no avail. Dixon hopes the problem will go away by itself so he gives Viktor some food coupons and a couple other vouchers and sends him into the international terminal lounge to wait. And Viktor waits, and waits, and waits.

Eventually Viktor has to find a way to survive so he begins to cobble a life together within the airport. Finding a job, a place to sleep, something to eat, a girlfriend (Catherine Zeta Jones) and eventually hoping he can finally set foot on American soil.

How long does he have to wait? Why doesn’t he escape?

“The Terminal” marks the return of the Hanks-Spielberg magic.

Hanks continues his streak of amazing acting as he not only develops a flawless accent but a walk, mannerisms and state of nature for Viktor. Hanks so embodies Viktor that we sometimes forget that he is this Hollywood staple. Even though he doesn’t really speak English we still can relate, feel and follow this man who has become lost among the red tape. It is an amazing performance.

I was also quite impressed with the desperation, frustration and snide performance of Stanley Tucci. He becomes so frustrated with Viktor that their on-going meetings become almost an old west showdown. Tucci is brilliant as a control freak at the end of his rope as he can’t find a logical way to kick Viktor to the side without breaking his sacred laws. He is almost the Mr. Hyde to Hanks’s Jekyll.

The rest of the cast including Zeta Jones are just filling to make the struggle between Tucci and Hanks more interesting. I liked a lot of his supporting cast and their inclusion in Viktor’s struggle but none of them really standout as brilliant. This is Hanks’s movie. There are a lot of clever and funny bits involving Hanks and his new life and we love every minute but it just seems like stuffing.

The faults in this heart-whelming story come from the fact that some of Viktor’s choices aren’t what a lot of us would do. There is some implausibility in some of his situations that make for interesting conversation after the film. I wanted the film to explore Viktor escaping just once to add more tension and frustration for Dixon after he is returned but to no avail.

During the film it is the strength of Hanks that keeps the film going. We need to believe in him for the film to work and it does because he is so brilliant. You also have to give Spielberg credit for taking a pulled back approach to filming each scene. He could have been a lot more claustrophobic and constrained but he uses Hanks as the centre of the problem not his directing.

“The Terminal” is a wonderful vehicle for Hanks and makes us once more remember why he is truly extraordinary.

(4 out of 5) So Says the Soothsayer

Dean Kish

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Tom Hanks aggressively rebounds from last spring’s horrific The Ladykillers as a stuck Eastern European citizen at JFK airport in Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal. The film is a light comedy that is a departure for Spielberg and a challenge for Hanks to once again prove he is one of the best in the business. Though purely entertaining, much like the recent film The Stepford Wives, the last minute reshoots of The Terminal’s ending sinks it from being an overall winner.

Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) is a citizen of the fictitious country Krakozhia and is on a mission to New York City to keep a promise that literally rests in an old can of Planter’s peanuts. However, right when he arrives at JFK airport, Navorski is denied entry into the United States and is taken to meet with the airport’s head security officer Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci). Dixon informs Navorski that while on his incoming flight, his country has erupted into a violent political war. Therefore his visa is invalid, the United States does not recognize his country’s new government, and all flights to the Krakozhia have been halted until the violence ends. Dixon is unable to allow Navorski into or out of the United States, hence he is remanded to the airport’s transit lounge. Navorski does not understand English too well and with Dixon unable to find him a translator, he is left in the airport on his own. Slowly, the Krakozhia citizen learns of his country’s fate through CNN and also learns English by his bedside at the under construction Gate 67. Navorski stills vows to accomplish the reason why he came to the United States and also hopes that his country has a quick and peaceful resolution. While living at the airport, he makes friends with an aging janitor from India named Gupta (Kumar Pallana) and a baggage handler named Mulroy (Chi McBride). Without any money, Navorski works out a deal with a food services worker (Diego Luna) to be a matchmaker for him and a beautiful INS worker named Delores (Zoe Saldana) in exchange for three meals a day. As the months go by, he also falls for a stunning flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who has continuos problems with her ongoing affair to a married man. On top of this, Navorski is a constant headache for Dixon, who more than once tries to make him somebody else’s problem.

Steven Spielberg captures balanced light comedy in his melting pot setting of the JFK airport. Every character is of another culture throughout this film, and part of Spielberg’s message is the racism, acceptance of diversity, and immigration standards of the United States. This film would have never surfaced shortly after the attacks of 9/11, but there is implementation of the agency (Homeland Security) and measures that have been placed in the airport setting since. The film is very well directed and though it does not have the originality or wit of Catch Me if You Can, there are still some very amusing comedic moments throughout. However, the ending of the film really derails and Spielberg seems shallow in what he wanted to capture. The conclusions to the character’s relationships are blank and a lot of the film’s established substance disappears during the last twenty minutes.

Writers Sacha Gervasi and Jeff Nathanson composed a funny, but not overly clever script. This film is sort of like a comedic Cast Away with a sprinkle of The Truman Show in it. Though mostly through Spielberg’s choices, the message of immigration and diversity is captured, but there are still many hiccups throughout the screenplay. The relationship that Navorski implements between Delores and the food service worker Enrique is cute, but not believable. The outcome of their relationship explains itself. The concept of a man being stuck for this amount of time is also sketchy, even though this film is loosely based on a man in France being stuck at airport. Outside of Navorski and Dixon, most of the characters, especially the flight attendant Amelia are paper-thin as well. However, there are some geniune moments, as to how Navorski earns money and learns of the war in his country. The acting by Hanks in the early moments of the film when he observes the violence break out in Krakozhia are brilliant.

After supplying us with perhaps the weakest performance of his career in The Ladykillers, Hanks delivers a wonderful performance as the Viktor Navorski. Though not as physically demanding of his similar “stuck” role in Cast Away, Hanks still shines and is so likeable as always. On the other hand, Catherine Zeta-Jones is dismal in her performance as the flight attendant Amelia Warren. Though gorgeous, Zeta-Jones just seemed out of place and not a part of this film as Amelia. Stanley Tucci is solid in his role as the aggravated head of security Dixon. Tucci shares some terrific moments with Hanks, including one of the film’s earlier scenes where he uses his lunch to explain to Hanks’ character of the war in Krakozhia. All of the other supporting actors deliver what is called of them, except for Kumar Pallana who is brittle as the janitor Gupta.

Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal is an entertaining film with some fun moments. Though nothing close to what one would expect from a master filmmaker like Spielberg, the film should still be seen to watch Tom Hanks do his magic. The themes and elements that Spielberg captures are understandable, but the film’s lackluster reshot ending leaves the film feeling more deflated than uplifting.

Grade: B-

Joseph Tucker

Arriving in New York’s JFK International Airport, Viktor Navorski (Hanks) finds that his homeland of Krakozhia is now gripped by a rebel upheaval. This means that his country is no longer recognised, making his passport and documents invalid, thus he cannot enter the United States. As all flights back to his country are now cancelled, Viktor cannot even go home so he is stuck in the International Terminal of JFK until either the war ends or the US Government decide what they want to do with him.

Steven Spielberg doesn’t really make bad films but would The Terminal be the exception to that rule. Don’t be silly.

Based loosely on a real life incidence that took place at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, The Terminal is a story of how red tape and political shenanigans can completely change someone’s life. This is a smaller, more character driven story for Spielberg and one that doesn’t rely on a high concept or a larger than life character. A tale about the triumph of human spirit and the willingness to achieve a goal that has no big action sequences and no huge special effects.

Key to the appeal of the movie is the performance of Tom Hanks. Quickly becoming a Spielberg stalwart, Hanks creates another instantly loveable character that everyone can emphasise with. In Viktor Navorski you have an everyman who could be anyone in the audience stuck in an unusual situation that through no fault of his own, he has to live with. In true Hanks style, the character makes the most of his situation, and of course, he gets himself into a few comical scrapes. It is easy to forget that Hanks is also a gifted comedic actor and he excels the physical comedy elements of the script. He is an actor that can convey comedy in just a look and this is a rare gift.

Supporting him expertly is Stanley Tucci, as Viktor’s nemesis airport controller Frank Dixon. Tucci excels in the role, showing again what an unsung talent he really is. Frank Dixon is an instantly dislikeable character, who is really only doing his job by stringently following the rules. If Viktor represents the everyman, Dixon is a representation of the Government and the power it has over all of us.

Diego Luna, Chi McBride and Kumar Pallana play Enrique Cruz, Joe Mulroy and Gupta Rajan, the airport employees who become Viktor friends. Each of them provides comic relief, as they grow closer to the man without a country. From their early suspicions that is a CIA undercover operative to becoming a friend, Viktor affects all of their lives and the actors reflect this with three excellent performances.

Catherine Zeta Jones continues to choose roles that distance her from the primadonna starlet image the paparazzi have unfairly labelled her with. As Amelia Warren she plays a confused stewardess who seen as an object by men and no one has ever seen her for what she is, a lonely woman who just wants to be loved. This is a role that Catherine really gets to grips with and through showing the character’s vulnerability she makes the role more acceptable to an audience.

The Terminal is a film that you cannot help but like. It isn’t as predictable as your standard Hollywood but under the watchful eye of Steven Spielberg you’d expect no less. The movie proves again that you can’t pigeonhole Spielberg into one genre or even one type of movie. This is by no means small budget, but for the great director this a change from norm and a very welcome on.

Star Rating = * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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