In January 2009, when Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger reluctantly went on television to explain how he landed a bird-struck US Airways jet in the Hudson River without losing any of his 155 passengers and crew – an event immediately dubbed The Miracle on the Hudson – he repeatedly declined to accept the new label stuck to his chest: hero. Nevertheless, “the NTSB was not asked to contribute to or participate in the production of Sully and as such we were not afforded an opportunity to ensure our actions and words were portrayed with accurate context or reflected our perspective”. As someone in a scene set some seven years after 9/11 remarks, “It’s been a while since NY had news this good, especially with an airplane in it”. Pictures’ drama “Sully”, which opens on Friday, were filmed in and around Atlanta.
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But this taut crowd-pleaser based on Sullenberger’s memoir, “Highest Duty”, also depicts the little-known story of how investigators initially questioned the need for a water landing.
Another NTSB veteran who was among those who first interviewed the pilot after the landing also emphasized that the board didn’t treat Sullenberger harshly over his decision.
Deftly telling the story of Sullenberger’s battle with the National Transportation Safety Board, Sully gets to the heart of the conflict between trusting technology in the digital age versus the human factor. “He says in the movie, his entire career is going to be judged on 208 seconds, as opposed to the thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of hours he did his job perfectly”, Hanks told reporters at the premiere.
Hanks proves once more that he’s the Jimmy Stewart of our generation.
Todd Komarnicki’s script reasonably takes dramatic liberty, compressing the 18-month investigation into a few days after the landing while Sully and his co-pilot, Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart), remain in a Manhattan that’s vividly evoked with location footage.
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With over 30 feature-film directing credits, Eastwood hasn’t always made the right choices, but “Sully” and his previous directing effort, “American Sniper”, show that the 86-year-old is in a good directing groove at the moment. As our Mike Ryan noted in his review of the film, there’s not a lot of tension to the story since we know that everyone survives, and the movie seems a bit padded with filler once the pivotal crash sequence ends.
