VOD film review: Sully: Miracle on the Horizon
Review Overview
True miracle
8Undramatic story
2David Farnor | On 14, Apr 2017
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart
Certificate: 12
Watch Sully online in the UK: Netflix UK / Amazon Prime / Apple TV (iTunes) / Prime Video (Buy/Rent) / TalkTalk TV / Rakuten TV / Google Play / Sky Store
Sully: Miracle on the Hudson is Clint Eastwood’s take on the true story of Flight 1549, which had to land on the Hudson river in 2009 after a catastrophic engine failure. What sounds like the makings of a visceral, shocking, miraculous movie, though, is a curiously undramatic affair.
The actual event is recreated in eerie, unsettling, jaw-dropping detail – with Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart in the cockpit as co-pilots. But away from that, as we follow the legal investigations that ensued, there’s nothing much to excite or interest. It’s telling that Eastwood resorts to replaying the fateful three-and-a-half minutes from different perspectives, intercut with the rest of the script; that’s the most exciting bit of the tale.
Hanks’ performance is as charismatic as ever, as he plays Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger – a nice, normal guy who did something heroic. But that’s all there is to him, which only reinforces the lack of surprises in store. Compared to the Denzel Washington flick Flight, for example, which featured a similar (fictional) event, but with the addition of drugs, lies, sex and booze, the post-flight investigation here feels bland and ordinary, no matter how much Todd Komarnicki’s screenplay (understandably) tries to up the stakes. In reality, the questions and answers were less inquisitorial than presented by Eastwood. Of course, that’s part of the film’s message – the inspirational demonstration that everyday people can, and did, come together to make a difference in the world. But while this will go down in history as a rare disaster movie with a happy ending, Sully is mostly a reminder that earnest and entertaining are not always the same thing.
Sully: Miracle on the Horizon is available to watch online on Amazon Prime Video as part of a Prime membership or a £5.99 monthly subscription. It is also available on Netflix UK, as part of an £9.99 monthly subscription.