I had heard some mixed reports about Steven Speilberg and Tom Hanks latest collaboration, but was sufficiently intrigued to add it to my DVD rental list.
Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski from the small independent (and fictitious) state of Krakozhia who has just arrived in New York by plane. However there has been a coup in his country whilst he was en route and his visa is no longer valid. He can also not return home as his country technically no longer exists, as the USA is refusing to recognize it. Therefore he must wait in the international transit lounge until further notice. Viktor doesn't speak much English and is initially baffled by the red tape, but see news reports of the bloody coup in Krakozhia and starts to understand.
Acting Airport Commissioner Nixon (Stanley Tucci) can't understand why Viktor doesn't make a run for it through the doors, and tries to encourage him to do so and become someone else's problem, but Viktor is content to wait. Nixon also tries to get Viktor to apply for asylum but again Viktor won't play ball. After losing his food vouchers he earns quarters by collecting the deposits from abandoned luggage trolleys. He then starts to make friends with the regulars in the Terminal. When airline food delivery driver Enrique fancies a pretty girl on the immigration desk, that Viktor has also struck up a friendship with in his constant attempts to get his visa authorized legitimately. Enrique asks Viktor to help him find out more about the girl and in doing so Viktor gets fed regularly and settles more and more into daily life at the Terminal with his other friends, suspicious janitor Gupta and baggage handler Mulroy. He also meets pretty cabin attendant Amelia (Catherine Zeta Jones) and his well meaning friends try and help him on the path of true romance.
One thing I did not expect from this film was a comedy; I thought it would be a straight drama as I had heard that it was loosely based on a true story of an Iranian refugee stranded at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport after his refugee papers were lost. The humour is often spontaneous and appears where you least expect it and for the most part it did not appear to be contrived nor did I get the impression that the film was playing far cheap laughs by shoe horning cheap gags in at every opportunity. The romance (or rather, the flirtation) is very much token, as if Spielberg felt he ought to put it in rather than being integral to the story. In a film of this type there are quite a few plot holes. If Hanks was flying in from Krakozhia then how come he was the only Krakozhian affected arriving? I think you have to expect this small niggles and go with it to enjoy this film for what it is - a light-hearted form of entertainment.
Also I was initially concerned if I would like Hanks in this film, but I did really enjoy his performance, he got just the right amount of niceness, sensitivity and emotion into his character without making him wet. Stanley Tucci I have often found to be consistent and plays the harassed Airport Manager role well. Catherine Zeta Jones was a waste of space. I guess they wanted to bring in a big name and make more of the romance, but the part as it stood could have been played by any number of pretty actresses with the ability to cry on demand. Viktor's airport friends were all played by actors I was not familiar with and I liked the camaraderie that they had which meant that they convinced in their parts.
Overall I think this is a perfectly acceptable way of spending a free two hours. For my rental copy I chose just the one disc, so it did not have any extras, but a check around the web reveals that there are plenty available on the two disc version.
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Comedy - Director: Tony Dow - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: John Challis, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tessa Peake-Jones, Gwyneth Strong
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
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, StevenSpielberg and Tom Hanks mesh like the preci...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
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![The Terminal [DVD] [2004]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78010471.jpg "The Terminal [DVD] [2004]")
Mar 14th, 2007
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