Tom Hanks shows how true-life hero Sully stayed cool under fire [Review]
On January 15, 2009, a US Airways Flight left New York’s LaGuardia airport. Two minutes later, birds flew into the engines, disabling them.
Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger quickly realised that he wouldn’t have time to return to the airport, so he did the impossible: he safely landed the airliner on the Hudson River in New York, saving the lives of all 155 people on board.
Sully, which is based on this true event and everything that happened after, focuses mainly on the aftermath of the landing, and how Sully dealt with the people involved.
The real life Sully is very shy and introverted, and in playing him, actor Tom Hanks reflects this by staying calm and talking softly. Once the plane has been evacuated and all the passengers are safely in the water, Sully calmly goes back to the cockpit to retrieve his uniform and documents. This attention to detail brings the movie to the next level.
As further testament to his professionalism, even while facing the media and the public after the incident, Sully never loses patience.
The movie’s only flaw is the crash scene – which only lasts about three and a half minutes. With the engines on fire and the plane going down, the passengers look far too calm, whereas in real life they’d almost certainly be going crazy with presumed death so close.