By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Catherine Zeta-Jones | Chi McBride | Diego Luna | Stanley Tucci | Tom Hanks | Zoe Saldana
Country: united_states
Year: 2004
Running time: 128
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362227/combined
Bruce says: “Anyone wishing to argue Steven Spielberg’s shortcomings as a director need look no further than THE TERMINAL. This film is a textbook case.
“Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, a tourist from a fictional Eastern European country, who becomes permanently stranded because of a military coup in his country while he was in flight to JFK. He cannot enter the US because his passport is no longer valid and he cannot return home because insurgents have shut down the Krakozia airport. Consequently Gate 67 becomes his home. While in residence he manages to make friends and win over skeptics with the exception of Frank Dixon, a middle manager groveling at the chance for promotion to terminal manager, played with an inappropriate villain-like delight by Stanly Tucci.
“Catherine Zeta-Jones is a perky stewardess who Viktor keeps bumping into as she flies in and out of JFK. She is a gal who ‘can’t
say no’ to a married man she has been seeing for over a decade. She is at his beck and call. Her biological clock is running out of time but her heart is going full steam ahead. To the film’s credit her possible romance with Viktor is handled appropriately although Spielberg had to shoot an entirely new ending to get it right. (Maybe those focus groups can improve a film, after all.) Zeta-Jones performs well enough, which is to say she is charming and doesn’t have much to do. A clumsy subtext about Napoleon, Josephine and destiny does nothing to enhance the struggling script.
“As competent an actor as Tom Hanks might be there is no reason, aside from potential box office returns, to cast him in a role which requires him to acquire a heavy Bulgarian accent and carry extra weight to let us know Viktor is a slightly dumpy Eastern European. To think what a film like this could be with Andrei Shchetinin (FATHER AND SON) or Konstantin Lavronenko (THE RETURN) in the role of Viktor. A film where the lead could exude natural charm and not constantly remind the audience he is acting. Hanks also is required to perform some slapstick routines, trying to get comfortable while sleeping on the seats in the gate area, slipping on the recently wash floors and bungling a job interview. Hanks is ill at ease at such moments and they are out of character for Viktor as well. Spielberg’s Viktor is one cut above the brunt of a bad Polish joke.
“The plot is loosely based on a true story, but the script is not believable nor is it consistent. For example, Viktor has trouble understanding English at times; suddenly he lapses into moments where he speaks or comprehends quite well. Characters speak the film’s various messages in case we can’t figure out things for ourselves; we are reminded that Viktor and Frank are both waiting for something, and that the airline passenger is a living metaphor. A major component of the film, as we come to learn,
is jazz. Jazz is what brings Viktor to the USA. Passing up the opportunity to have the best jazz score in film history (those lonely, hazy nights in the empty terminal are crying out for some smoky jazz riffs) DreamWorks hired John Williams to compose an original score, evenly paced with crescendos that tell us what we can already see. With a budget of $60 million, Spielberg was able to construct his own terminal. With all that effort, we never really get a chance to get a sense of the physical space or actually
know where Gate 67 is in relation to the other major locations in the terminal. This is a film of many missed opportunities.
“There are some moments when Zeta-Jones and Hanks have a chemistry that is wonderful but gently out of place, perhaps better suited for another film. There is a sweetness to all of this, in spite of the mess that Spielberg has made of it. It is the sweetness that feeds my generosity: 2 cats
Thom responds: “I’m flabbergasted by this review. I thought THE TERMINAL was far and away the best film that Spielberg has
ever made, delightful from beginning to end. Not a big fan of Hanks, I thought he was brilliant here. This was a film I wanted to go on and on for every scene provided a great sense of life and humanity. 5 cats!”