This Uplifting Film Tells a Hero’s Story

With marketing genius — some would call it cynicism and crassness — Warner Bros. chose to release “Sully” two days before the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Certainly some viewers will shudder or close their eyes as “Sully’s” jetliner shrieks low by buildings. But this is the story of heroism and stoic competence, just as so much of the 9/11 story was about the courage and dedication of first responders.

Here the hero is Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, played with quiet earnestness by Tom Hanks. On a frigid January afternoon, his twin-engine plane is struck by a flock of Canada geese only minutes after taking off from LaGuardia airport. Both engines lose power. Calling on his training and 40 years of professional flying, Sully decides his only option to avoid killing people on the ground is to set the plane down in an icy Hudson River on Manhattan’s West Side.

Sully’s successful water landing, the evacuation of passengers and crew by near-instant NYC first responders, become the stuff of myths; images of passengers standing on the wings of the slowly sinking aircraft are in all media; Sully is a sudden hero interviewed on day and nighttime talk shows.

But this is no simple story of heroism. Instead, Director Clint Eastwood gives us a man wracked by doubts and nightmares of what might have happened if he had made the wrong decision. Sully’s second thoughts are framed by an investigation and hearing held by the National Transportation Safety Board, whose computer simulations suggest Sully’s plane had enough power to land safely at a nearby airport.

The investigation — we all know Sully was cleared — allows Eastwood to revisit the crash several times from different perspectives and to give us Sully’s nightmares in harrowing detail. Beautifully filmed and tight, the film is made in Eastwood’s no-fat, no-waste style — it lasts only 96 minutes — with every frame meaningful. And as we would expect from musician-composer Eastwood, his soundtrack is a mix of calm, apprehension and nervous energy.

Hanks, our American film hero for all purposes, is perfect. Wreathed by snowy white hair and a matching mustache, he is alternately serious, funny, thoughtful. Who else would you want to pilot your movie jetliner? 

Aaron Eckhart is a fine copilot, and the other male actors are fine too. Women don’t fare so well, with both Laura Linney as Sully’s wife and Anna Gunn as an unpleasant interrogator on the investigating board given little to do.

“Sully” is a good movie, not a great one. But it is uplifting, that rare film inspired by good news, something we can all use in the midst of an appalling political campaign. Hanks for president?

“Sully” is rated PG-13 for some peril and brief strong language.