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Viktor Navorski is stateless and stranded at JFK airport, when a coup destroys his home country. He can’t go home, but he can’t leave the airport either. He is forced to stay in the international transit lounge until the situation resolves itself. He makes the best of it by learning English, befriending the staff and falling for an air hostess.
If you think the story of a man living in an airport terminal is far-fetched, think again. The story was inspired by an Iranian man named Merhan Karimi Nasseri who arrived at Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport without proper papers in 1988 and has lived there ever since. But of course the story has been appropriated by Steven Spielberg, so it less about the hardships of being trapped in limbo and more a life-affirming fable about the strength of the human spirit and the ingenuity of a man stranded by circumstance. Spielberg’s aim is obviously to make a Capra-esque feel-good film. To achieve this end, he has mixed the cream of the Hollywood crop with an appealing bunch of largely unknown supporting actors to create a group of sympathetic characters. And then he plonked them down in a fully functional facsimile of an airport terminal. Though it may look real, the whole thing was built in an aircraft hangar in California, decked out with all of the usual retail outlets and departure boards and peopled with a crack team of extras. If I hadn’t known otherwise, I would have been convinced it was real.
I’m
not a big fan of Tom Hanks. Though I enjoyed his performance in “The Ladykillers”, I usually find him terribly bland. That isn’t his fault, it’s just that he plays a good everyman and that tends to be what he’s cast as. Viktor Navorski is another one of those characters. Hanks is most impressive during the early stages of the film, before his character has learnt to speak English. All Hanks has to rely on is his face and he proves himself adept at conveying a whole gamut of emotions without saying a word. Look at his confusion when his passport is first taken off him and it becomes apparent that he’s trapped in the Land of the Free, without a penny to his name or a word of the language. His anguish is all too real when he sees the news reports of the coup in his home country too. But as soon as he’s got a handle on the lingo, it’s business as usual and we’re back to irritatingly likeable Josef Bloggs but with an accent straight from a Hammer Horror movie.
Catherine Zeta-Jones is stymied in her role as Amelia, the object of Viktor’s affections. The character is badly under-developed, existing more as an idealised objectification of women but Zeta-Jones does the best she can with limited material. She even manages to wring out a modicum of sympathy for Amelia – even if her situation is self-imposed. She isn’t terribly convincing as an air hostess, but that’s more to do with the script than her acting. That being said, her American accent still sounds forced, even after years living in the States.
Stanley Tucci clearly enjoys being mean as Homeland Security officer Frank Dixon, unsuccessfully trying to goad Viktor into leaving the airport at every available opportunity, just so he’s somebody else’s problem. Tucci has an air of authority about him and the pursed lips of the bureaucrat that make his character believable. It is therefore unfortunate that his role is undermined in the final act and he is made to look as though his previous actions are those of a pantomime villain.
When will directors and screenwriters learn that when it comes to sidekicks, three is a crowd? Someone always loses out and in this case it is Chi McBride as Joe Mulroy. The character is so under-developed that he may as well not be there. I suspect his role may have fallen foul of the editor’s scissors as there are hints of an interesting sub-plot that isn’t developed. Diego Luna is sweet as lovelorn food services worker Enrique, who enlists Viktor’s help to woo an immigration officer in a “Cyrano de Bergerac” sub-plot. Kumar Pallana provides the film’s best sight gags as Gupta, the embittered, juggling janitor whose greatest joy comes from watching people fall over on his freshly mopped floors. He also has a nice bit of exposition that contrasts with Viktor’s own life as an unwilling immigrant. One other actor to watch out for is Zoe Saldana, who plays Enrique’s love interest. She bears a striking resemblance to Jada Pinkett Smith and brings out the natural comedy in her scenes with Viktor.
John Williams collaborates with Spielberg once more on the score. His presence is evidenced by his beloved woodwind instruments, particularly the clarinet. It is a jaunty accompaniment to a light-hearted film but is a far cry from Williams’ most iconic work.
Where the film falls down is in the moon crater-sized plot holes. Would you accept a proposal from a man you’ve never met, with the prevalence of nutters in New York? Why doesn’t Viktor try to leave the building? Doesn’t he have any family in his war-torn country? Isn’t he worried about his friends over there? What are they doing while he’s pottering about the airport? Why doesn’t he try to contact them? Would the powerful builders’ unions really let him get away with working cash-in-hand? Why don’t we know anything about his background?
Some aspects of the film are too far-fetched to convince (there’s a document that practically has dues ex machine written on it), but the plot holes are tempered by committed acting from a likeable cast, a light script with plenty of frothy comedy in it and the usual high-quality production design from Spielberg’s team. It’s about half-an-hour too long and the ending is saccharine (though not as predictable as you might expect), but this is a Spielbeard film. It’s a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours, but don’t expect it to stay in your memory for too long. When a film is this glossy, it’s bound to slide off your brain.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2000 - Comedy - Director: David Raynr - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, Shane West, Marla Sokoloff, James Franco, Colin Hanks, Christine Lakin, Aaron Paul
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Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Watched this last night and thought t was great - easy to watch but a bit different from the usual Hollywood films. Helen
lush_lozenge 29.09.2004 17:21
"When a film is this glossy, it's bound to slide off your brain" - fantastic ending to a great review. I've still not seen this film and I'm a pretty big Tom Hanks fan but I really will see it eventually! Loz x
flickpugh 20.09.2004 21:17
Exceptionally well written film review, I often fight temptation to skim read film reviews, but not this one!
Like an airport running at peak efficiency,The Terminalglides on the consummate skills of ... more
its director and star. Having refined their collaborative chemistry onSaving Private RyanandCatch Me if You Can, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks mesh like the prec...
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![The Terminal [DVD] [2004] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/75099703.jpg "The Terminal [DVD] [2004] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]")
![The Terminal [DVD] [2004]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78010471.jpg "The Terminal [DVD] [2004]")
Sep 15th, 2004
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