Movie Reviews for The Terminal (Widescreen Edition)

The Terminal (Widescreen Edition)

	List Price: ~~$9.98~~ Our Price: $8.99 You Save: $0.99 (10%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases

Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

Movie Reviews of The Terminal (Widescreen Edition)

Movie Review: A Charming Comedy
Summary: 5 Stars

Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake

THE TERMINAL is the most charming film that director Steven Spielberg has made in years.

Inspired by an actual incident, the touching comedy stars Tom Hanks as Viktor Navorski, a non-English-speaking citizen from a small, imaginary Eastern European country who arrives at New York's JFK airport only to learn that a revolution has taken place in his nation. Thus, because of bureaucratic glitches, he cannot legally enter the United States, nor can he return home.

He is forced to remain inside the airport terminal until his situation can be rectified.

Inside the vast terminal, which, incidentally, is a fabulous set that, along with Hanks' brilliant nuanced performance, deserved to be (but was not) recognized come Oscar time, Viktor must learn to survive.

He finds a place to sleep in an unfinished part of the building, makes friends among the airport workers and even finds employment as a construction worker.

Viktor also finds romance in the person of Catherine Zeta-Jones, an airline stewardess who is involved in a dead-end affair with a married man.

Stanley Tucci plays the head of airport security. He's not an evil man, but the fact that Hanks is stuck in his terminal for month-after-month might prevent him from getting the promotion that he's been seeking for years. Therefore, he must find a way to rid himself of this thorn-in-his-side, using fair means or foul, even if it means that Hanks will wind up in prison.

Chi McBride and Diego Luna are also in the cast.

? Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (available December 2008)

Movie Review: Perseverance wins out
Summary: 4 Stars

Imagine yourself in an airport of a country where you don't speak the language. While you were in the air, getting to that country, your country experienced a coup, and upon landing you find you are a person without a country. What now?

This is the premise of "The Terminal", a gentle little movie tailor-made to exercise Tom Hanks' considerable acting chops. Playing the role of Viktor Navorski, a simple man from Krakosia, a small country somewhere in Europe, he exhibits more style and believability than any other actor who might have worked this part. Viktor goes through the Customs line, expecting no trouble, and submits his passport. Unfortunately for him, while he was airborne, the military coup in his country rendered that passport useless. He is taken out of the line and delivered to the airport offices of Homeland Security, to which he submits without a fuss, with no understanding of where he is going or why.

The airport branch of Homeland Security is run by Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci, always worth watching), a man straining at the reins to advance himself in whatever way possible. The problem of Viktor is dropped in his lap. Viktor cannot be sent home, and he cannot be allowed to leave the International terminal. To the frustration of both Viktor and Frank, Viktor must remain in the terminal until his case is resolved.

Viktor is let loose in the protected international terminal with food vouchers and nothing else. He has no contacts, and still does not know why he is being detained from leaving until he chances to see an account of the coup in his country on one of the TV monitors. Understandably frantic, he tries to communicate with someone, anyone, to help him, but is summarily dismissed by everyone he encounters. He loses his food vouchers, is moved along by authorities, and spends a miserable first night in a secluded and empty waiting area, hoping the next day will bring a resolution to his troubles.

The next day, however, begins an odyssey of waiting; for an end to the coup, for his release from the terminal, for a way to get by. After several meals of saltine and ketchup sandwiches cadged from the condiment trays of various fast-food places, Viktor discovers that returning baggage trolleys to their corrals will net him redemption change, and his joy at sinking his teeth into his first real food - earned from his cart-returning - is palpable.

Frank, meanwhile, has been monitoring his new denizen with a jaundiced eye. He doesn't want Viktor any more than Viktor wants to be there, but cannot arrive at a solution. His attempts to lure Viktor to leave - thus making him a headache for INS instead of Frank - are stymied by Viktor figuring this plot out. He knows he'll get in trouble if he goes out, and smells a huge rat whenever Frank proposes some new way out for him.

It's hard to tell how much time is supposed to elapse throughout the movie, but enough at least for Viktor to learn English from industriously watching monitors of shows in English and comparing what is said to a translation in Krakosian. He also gradually makes friends with various low-level workers throughout the terminal; a baggage handler, a maintenance man, and a clerk assigned to clear people to leave. He wins them over and becomes part of the terminal family, and makes a home for himself in an unused corner of the place. Along the way, he falls in love with a flight attendant (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who is having man problems, and who recognizes Viktor as a friend but nothing more.

Directed by Stephen Spielberg, the film probably lasts a little longer than necessary but works longer than it would have under less capable hands. It is fascinating to watch Hanks in action; there is nothing in the way of acting that this man cannot handle, and he does such an admirable job of it here that if there was more weight to the movie he might have gleaned an award. His panic at being marooned in this huge place, amongst a sea of people uninterested in his plight, and his manner of turning things to his advantage, are all presented with such ingenuity and style that it is impossible not to cheer with every victory. Stanley Tucci, as Frank, is also memorable as the Simon Lagree figure, eager to bring Viktor low to be rid of him. All of the side characters that fill out Viktor's world make for interesting watching also, as their individual stories begin to come out.

This was a worthy 2 hours, not boring anywhere, and one of Tom Hanks' best works, in my opinion. It came and went without a lot of fanfare, but is good enough to have in a collection for a rainy night, when it's nice to reflect on the joys of a safe haven, a warm bed, and plenty to eat, in a place where people know you. I know I think of things differently now, when I fly out of the country. What would I do in the same circumstance?

Rated four stars by me only because it wasn't a particularly major film. The acting was top-notch by everybody.

Movie Review: No Exit
Summary: 3 Stars

It's easy to figure out how movies like this get made, the "high-concept" can be expressed in one sentence. Remember the opening sequence of The Player where film producer Tim Robbins listened to a series of preposterous one-sentence ideas for movies? Here goes. "Man entering JFK from failed state must take up residence in waiting area, existing in a state of limbo - hyjinx ensue." The idea is just so breathtakingly stupid and far-fetched that it's a wonder Spielberg gave it a second thought. However, if nothing else, Spielberg is good at movie magic, and here he has taken an abominable idea, an anemic script, and dressed them up with enough flotsam and jetsam to not lose money.

How did he do it? Well, start with Tom Hanks, as bankable as you get. You simply can't dislike Tom Hanks, because there's nothing there to dislike. Of course, there's nothing there to like either. He's like a loaf of Wonderbread, the ideal "everyman" actor - so totally nondescript that he slips into any role. Heck, Spielberg doesn't even make him speak English! Add Catherine Zeta Jones. Fellas, I don't know about you, but I would watch her in a dog food commercial. Make sure to add plenty of glamour location footage and production value, not to mention those all-important product placements. Then finish off with a really top shelf set of minor characters led by Kumar Pallana who nearly steals the film. (Remember him in 10 Items or Less?) In other words, if you've got enough tinsel, no one will notice that there is no tree.

Even the great Stanley Tucci cannot make anything out of his part - and I have seen him work miracles with much less. He's totally wasted. The sentimentality and bleary-eyed romanticism function on the 12-year old girl level we've come to associate with Spielberg, there are moments in this film so cloying one expects to see subtitles reading, "Cry now". I've been stuck in airport terminals myself, they're pretty bleak at 3:00 a.m. However, I'll take that bleakness over the cotton candy offered up by this movie any day. Gottago.

Movie Review: Great Acting In A Silly Movie
Summary: 3 Stars

I loved this movie for about the first 30 minutes. After that it seemed like the story didn't know where to go. While I sort of enjoyed this movie I think it had mostly to do with Tom Hanks. He creates a character that is easy to like and he does an amazing job playing a person who doesn't speak english and is trapped in an airport. What I didn't like about this movie was that it was a bit silly. The whole point of why he came to the U.S. to begin with was supposed to be touching, but I just thought it was a bit silly in the end. This movie was interesting, but a lot of it was just so far fetched that when the movie ended I just felt it was very corny overall. Entertaining enough to keep you interested, yet a let down in total.