If I could change the title of a movie, I would change the title to “Sully” to be “Birds”. It is a more appropriate name for this film I think, and provides the funniest aspect of a film that couldn’t crack a smile if it sat on a whoopie cushion.
And to be fair, the Eastwood directed film is not all that joyous and funny of a subject, since planes landing in water (it’s not a crash) is not an everyday event.
Still this is a slow and disjointed effort. Most puzzling to me is the overall tone and actions of the National Air Safety Board. Here there is a pilot who just saved 155 people (every one) on a plane by landing in the Hudson River, and is a national hero going on Letterman and Katie Couric’s show and being hailed, and you decide you want to railroad him and call it “pilot error”. Why? For what purpose? What, on earth, could be your motivation, unless you work for the insurance industry and don’t want to pay up for what is clearly a No Fault accident on anyone’s part. Laura Linney’s part is poor as she frets over bills and getting Sully back up in the air. There is a worthy short film here, but trying to stretch out a 200 second event into an almost 2 hour film just doesn’t work.
I actually took my timer out on my phone to see from the flight recorder info, just how long it took between “Birds” being heard and the decision being made to head back to LaGuardia. 43 seconds. Birds.
Mondays With Robbie 