Recent Watching: Sully

Sully is a Clint Eastwood directed picture starring Tom Hanks as Captain Sully, the man who successfully landed US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River shortly after both engines were disabled on 15 January 2009. All 155 people on board were rescued. 

If the crash and rescue were so quick, then what is most of the movie about? The rest of the movie is about the nightmares Sully had for weeks afterward and the National Traffic Safety Board investigation. After taking multiple factors into account, the NTSB clears Captain Sully.

If the movie has a flaw it is the lack of any significant female characters. Laura Linney seems to be in the picture to be the concerned wife. And Captain Sully’s daughters did not have a single line. Decide for yourself if this means something about Eastwood’s attitude toward women.

The theme of the movie is competence and experience matter. Captain Sully had 42 years of aviation experience. Eastwood has been an actor in about 60 pictures and has directed 40. No big name Hollywood actor has directed even close to this many pictures. One thing he learned as an actor was that he hated sitting around the sets waiting for multiple takes. Eastwood often films only the first take and sometimes has the cameras rolling during rehearsals and does not film another take. This process gives his pictures a spontaneity and immediacy. It also assumes his audience is intelligent.

When the credits begin, half the screen shows stills and video of the actual rescue scene and Captain Sully and the passengers in 2016. These documentary-like scenes make the end of the picture more emotional than I expected it to be.

library DVD

QOTD:

What was the last movie you watched on DVD or Blu-Ray (or VHS)?

What was the last movie you saw that had you thinking after the credits started?