Sully Lands the Part

Sully was a short movie, especially with new movies coming out that are close to two and a half hours long, but for a movie that is only an hour and forty minutes long. It sure is pretty amazing and done very well! For a Drama/Biography Film, this was one of the betters ones I had seen. From the good acting and great scenes, to some intense scenes Sully is definitely worth the money.

With a 60 million dollar budget, Sully was done quite well. Tom Hanks had played Captain Chesley ¨Sully” Sullenberger and Aaron Eckhart as Jeff Skiles. It contained some very precise scenes that were amazingly executed to reflect on what had happened on January 9th, 2009. The movie does an amazing job at putting you right into the cockpit of the plane where the quick decisions of the pilot and the first officer take place that saved the lives of all 155 passengers on the plane by landing on the mighty Hudson River. From the beginning of the movie till the end you’ll see how Chesley Sullenberger’s life unfolds through all of these events, and how the people around him had been affected.

On January 9th Flight 1549, just after three minutes of taking off, Flight 1549 accidentally flew through a large flock of geese which had caused both engines of the plane to fail. As soon as this had happened, Pilot Chesley Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles considered flying back to LaGuardia or even Teterboro Airport, which Pilot Chesley Sullenberger quickly realized that would not make it with how fast they were losing altitude. Chesley Sullenberger decided to risk it all and land on the Hudson River, and because of his experience and skill managed to land safely and save all 155 lives on board of the plane. This event is known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.”

After the plane crash, Sully ends up have a horrible case of PTSD which haunts him with what could have had happened if he didn’t safely land the plane. Eastwood does a good job at putting eerie 9/11 like scenes of planes crashing into buildings into the movie that haunt Captain Sully. He also does a good job at making “enemies” for Sully like the NTSB who try to prove that the crash was the pilot’s error in the movie.

You’ll also end up seeing what happens to Captain Sully and his family after landing the plane in the Hudson River. Emotional scenes of phone calls that Sully and his worried wife have, and how the family is surrounded by the news and media. Overall it was done quite well and the acting was spot on.

A big problem with the movie is the fact that out of the 96 minutes it plays, it spends almost 20 minutes showing the daily lives of passengers just before boarding the plane who serve almost no purpose in the movie except the fact that they are saved by Captain Sully. Maybe Eastwood was trying to show that these types of events can happen at any time and are unexpected? It took 24 minutes to evacuate all 155 passengers when the crash had actually happened in the real event. The producers should have spent less time on the scene where the people were saved, or they should have extended the movie.

Some scenes in the movie were done very poorly and would even kill the vibe of the movie that the past scenes had built up. One scene looked like they had put no effort into that specific part at all, it ended up looking like something a 5-year-old had thought of, like putting 2 guys on unstable chairs and having them rock side to side. These scenes sadly put a dent into the quality of the movie.

The movie had been executed amazingly, but most people complained of how short it was and that it could have been better. Sure it is short compared to some new movies that are being released, but the fact is that the movie was done very well! The acting was amazing, the acting felt like you were watching the actual event take place. Also, with Tom Hanks as the main character, what could go wrong?

Wikipedia informs us that Captain Chesley was personally thanked by Former U.S. President George W. Bush and U.S. President Barack Obama had invited Pilot Chesley Sullenberger and the entire crew to meet him. Captain Chesley Sullenberger was also rewarded the key of the city New York by Mayor Bloomberg. Captain Chesley Sullenberger also threw out the opening pitch of the 2009 Major League Baseball season for the San Francisco Giants, He was given a Giants’ jersey inscribed with the name “Sully” and the number 155, which is a reference to the amount of people he saved.

The Movie was overall amazing, a Solid 4.5/5. The acting was well done, the scenes, minus a few exceptions, were done very well, they were action packed and were amazingly done. I recommend if you have a night available, go drop a couple dollars to watch this movie, you won’t regret it.