The Terminal (2004)
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Duration: 128 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Stanley Tucci
IMDb score:
7,4 (536.661)
Releasedate: 17 June 2004
The Terminal plot
"Life is waiting."
An Eastern European, Viktor Navorsky, visits New York. When he arrives at Kennedy Airport, war breaks out in his homeland. He cannot fly back and is not allowed to enter the US with his current papers. Viktor improvises and turns Kennedy Airport into a temporary home for months, where he watches the people and falls in love with flight attendant Amelia.
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Actors and actresses
Viktor Navorski
Amelia Warren
Frank Dixon
Mulroy
Enrique Cruz
Thurman
Gupta Rajan
Dolores Torres
Salchak
Karl Iverson
Reviews & comments
Roger Thornhill
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- 6195 messages
- 2546 votes
Interesting: a lot of people think that Spielberg should have used a real Eastern European for the lead role, but if this movie was made in 2020, would you be able to cast a non-Eastern European at all without the PC crowd falling over you? If you look at the reactions when it became known that Scarlett Johansson was going to play a transgender...
Anyway, Tom Hanks is indeed an odd choice in terms of nationality, but he turns out to be perfect for this role, with a veritable balancing act on the tightrope between a caricature (his accent, his walk, his jumbles) and a real man (his steadfastness, his relationship with Amelia, his survival skills, his humanity). I regularly feared that he would fall into Forrest Gump-like unreality, but he always dodges that trap admirably. Sentimental but compelling and heartwarming, with a great role for Stanley Tucci as well. I can't help it, every time I see this movie I'm left with alternately a lump in my throat and a grin on my face. "So, will we share the panties?"
Translated from Dutch · View original
Shadowed
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- 11557 messages
- 6803 votes
Spielberg?
So far he has never scored lower than 2.5* with me. He is often a somewhat pro-American director, but has proven several times that he can offer quite a bit as a director. But I think The Terminal is a serious slip-up in his career. Also rarely got the feeling that Spielberg was the actual director.
The most notable choice was the lead role. Why was Tom Hanks cast for that. I can still get over the accent. Hanks doesn't mind the accent for the rest either. But he just looks way too American for this role and that's why I can hardly take him seriously.
For the rest, I mainly miss the power of Spielberg. Normally he does offer something in a certain area, but everything falls a bit short in this film. The humor is regularly of a questionable level, the camera work is too tame and visually it often falls short. Some nice shots but none really powerful.
Roles are also a bit too standard and too easy. Tucci again as a typical villain and Kwik & Kwek & Kwak as Donald Hanks' good sidekicks. We see it happen often, but that it has to come from Spielberg is a disappointment. Especially because he could usually do something special with the characters. (Cate Blanchett excepted in Indiana Jones 4, just as Spielberg-unworthy).
The entire airport is also lacking in detail and the story is sometimes painfully uninteresting. I never got a very nice or sweet feeling from it and the sentiment regularly runs too high. But the acting is pretty decent and there is just enough happening to never let it get completely boring. Some scenes are also just a bit stronger and that's why it just ends up at 2.0*.
But I expect more from a director like Spielberg. Much more than this kind of nonsense. In my opinion, the average is way too high.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Sergio Leone
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- 4461 messages
- 3142 votes
Very mediocre.
Steven Spielberg creates a fairy tale in an unusual setting. Fairytale, because the corniness is prominent, not only because of the few subtle soundtrack but also because of, for example, a miscast Tom Hanks who portrays a dorky Eastern European.
With Hanks' (repetitive) encounters, the film reaches a running time of 2 hours, which surprises me. I can't think of any reason why an ultimately light, tragicomic film like this has to drag on for so long. It gets more and more viscous over time.
Not my thing.
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