Official Synopsis
Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones star in this romantic comedy from director Steven Spielberg about an Eastern European traveler who finds himself stranded in JFK airport and must take up temporary residence there.
The beginning of the film really did seem like it was set on solid foundation. Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) becomes stuck in JFK airport when his country’s government is overthrown by rebels. Viktor, who is trying to get out into the ‘Big Apple’ finds himself banned to the terminal by Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci). At the beginning when our hapless hero is panicking, and rightfully so, it’s a really emotional and believable situation that he has gotten stuck in. He can’t speak english, he has lost his home and he is stuck in a strange place that can’t understand him as much as he can’t understand them. Not an ideal situation for anyone.
Then the movie shifts from an emotionally straining drama to a wacky comedy of sorts. Viktor starts to adapt to the environment. He improves/learns english, finds a way to eat and even gets a job. He does this through a series of clever moves starting with cart collecting in the terminal, which earns him a twenty-five cent refund per cart collected.
Viktor continues his trek through airport life, as he begins to find friends. First, he encounters a food service driver named Enrique (Diego Luna), who barters with him. If he can gather information about airport officer Dolores Torres (Zoe Saldana), then Enrique will supply Viktor with a limitless amount of food. Then just when things were getting going on a high note, Viktor’s adventures run into a wall. A pretty wall, but a wall nonetheless.
The next person he encounters ruins the flow of the film, which is just a series of clever montage moments where Viktor is taking his airport banishment in stride. The saucy and seductive house-wrecker, and airline steward, Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) arrives on the scene and stands out like a sore thumb. Her presence in the picture is baffling at best. She offers nothing to the storyline and actually detracts away from Viktor’s situation. Sure you can argue that she plays the love interest of Viktor, but unlike other characters, Viktor has an impossibly tough time setting her on the right path. Unlike the other people he runs into, who have good values and intentions, she carries none of these things. She offers up unnecessary drama and actually just slows down the entire film.
It’s odd, but it’s also obvious.
Amelia aside, with all these happy-go-lucky moments arriving, the story shifts back to the harsh world of Viktor versus Frank, as Frank is just wanting to get rid of his unwelcome visitor that is ruining his airport’s perfection, and his chance for a major promotion. The scenes between the Viktor and Frank are dark and sometimes incredibly mean. Tucci’s Frank Dixon is almost overly obsessed with making Viktor’s life hell, so much that it becomes real cruelty at times. The climax of the film is definitely magnified in a triumphant sort of way by Frank’s actions, but for a mostly lighthearted film, it gets very dark at times with Tucci on the screen. Nearly mobster-going-to-break-your-legs dark.
As with most of Viktor’s ventures, things work out for him and he can even push past Frank’s cruelty to find some cheerfulness. That is always a good thing when you’re trying to make something lighthearted.
That aside, the main issue with The Terminal is that it struggles to find its identity and gets lost in some of the characters by accident. It wants to be a serious film about someone who is without a country or a home. Then it shifts to something clever and lighthearted, only to return to a heavy amount of drama that seemingly comes out of nowhere. The characters written for it carry the variety of emotional baggage, which changes the mood swing of The Terminal at times. It’s not there fault of course, but their individual stories do swing the overall story back and forth. In other words, it’s a bit all over the place.
Does that mean it’s not entertaining? Heck no, Tom Hanks works his tail off to make sure you have fun when fun is available. He plays a likable character that you want to see in a sequel someday (never going to happen, but I would watch a movie with Viktor again). His supporting cast, for the most part, do a great job with helping Viktor’s adventures along. Without the cast, this movie may not have been as good as it is.
Anyway, if you haven’t seen The Terminal then you should check it out. It’s worth your time and money, just don’t expect Academy Award winning Spielberg material from this one.
As for the Blu-ray quality, it’s pretty solid. While there is some noticeable graininess in the picture, especially when the white and light gray colors surface, the majority of the film is extremely pretty. You get some dominant blues, browns, yellows and reds from this one. There isn’t any color banding or problems with compression in the visual quality, but, again, the graininess does tend to rear its head. Definitely not the best transfer to HD, but solid nonetheless.
In terms of special features for this release, here’s what to expect:
· Booking the Flight: The Script, The Story
· Waiting for the Flight: Building The Terminal
· Boarding: The People of The Terminal
o Tom Hanks is “Viktor”
o Catherine Zeta-Jones is “Amelia”
o Viktor’s World
· Take Off: Making The Terminal
· In Flight Service: The Music of The Terminal
· Landing: Airport Stories
· Photo Gallery
· Theatrical Trailer #1 HD
· Theatrical Trailer #2 HD
You get lots of special features with this release, which is surprising considering it isn’t a special edition or a high profile release. A lot of this was probably on the DVD release of the film, which is fine, but if you haven’t seen it before (like yours truly) then it’s new to you. The building of the terminal is my favorite feature of the group. It’s fascinating that they actually built that entire airport on a soundstage.
Anyway, lots of good stuff here to extend (and sometimes explain) the movie experience.
