Review: The Terminal

Tom Hanks is Viktor Navorski, in New York’s JFK airport having come from the seemingly Eastern European country of Krakozhia. Unfortunately, while Viktor was on the plane, war broke out in Krakozhia and the government was overturned in a coup. This leaves Viktor and Homeland Security official Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci) in quite the pickle. The new country that Krakozhia has become is not recognised by the US, and Viktor is deemed ‘unacceptable’ to have the right to enter American soil, beyond the airport terminal. The newly appointed Frank decides to let Viktor stay wherever he likes within the confines of the airport terminal until the situation back home is resolved for him to enter New York, or until he can be deported. Really, Frank’s just expecting Viktor to do what many others do and just try to escape and get out of Frank’s hair. However, Viktor is either too honest or completely clueless, and he patiently sticks around. In the meantime he strikes up a relationship/friendship with frequent visitor to the airport, flight attendant Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). He also attempts to hook up airport terminal employee Enrique with the security officer (Zoe Saldana) he has the hots for, but can’t muster up the courage to woo on his own. Chi McBride plays another terminal worker, Eddie Jones plays Tucci’s predecessor, and Barry Shabaka Henley plays a terminal security guard.

 

Surprisingly lousy 2004 film from director Steven Spielberg (“Jaws”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “ET: The Extra Terrestrial”, “Saving Private Ryan”, “Catch Me If You Can”). He’s admittedly had a few duds over the years, and I just can’t work out what he (who, on a good day, is the best living director by far) saw in this story scripted by Andrew Niccol (The usually intelligent writer-director of “Gattaca” and “Lord of War”), Jeff Nathanson (“Catch Me If You Can”, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, “Tower Heist”), Sacha Gervasi (director of the rock doc “Anvil! The Story of Anvil”), and supposedly inspired by a true incident (The country here, Krakozhia, is fictional and for the real guy the airport was Charles de Gaulle). The basic idea is thin, and the treatment is light-hearted, schmaltzy and extremely superficial. For me, the tone needed to be a lot grittier to really work, and even then I think two hours is way too long for what really feels like a minor geopolitical issue.

 

Sadly, star Tom Hanks gives his worst performance since “Bonfire of the Vanities” and he contributes to what I feel is a rather insincere film, not something I’d normally accuse Hanks or Spielberg of. Balki from “Perfect Strangers” was far less of an ethnic caricature than Hanks (who can be absolutely brilliant, and usually is) offers up here. He goes full ‘Moose unt Sqvirrel’ with the accent, I just couldn’t buy him for a second. It also doesn’t help that his character’s ability to understand and converse in English is wildly inconsistent (not to mention rushed through considerably), and it’s not intentional, it’s just convenience/contrivance.

 

Meanwhile, I’m pretty far on the left-wing of politics, but even I have a hard time with a film like this post 9/11. It’s only in the very final scene that the Stanley Tucci character shows any real shred of humanity, and I don’t think I was meant to like him. It’s a harmless film, of course, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to portray an airport immigration security guy as such a black-hatted villain for 99% of the film.

 

Catherine Zeta-Jones isn’t terrible, and looks absolutely edible, but she’s terribly miscast. This kind of nice, somewhat insecure air hostess role just isn’t the right fit for her. She admirably tries to stretch herself here, but her first scene shows the problem: She slips on a wet floor, apparently a sign that the impossibly beautiful woman is human. Let’s be real, CJZ is a ‘type’, and this role isn’t within that type in the slightest. Zoe Saldana isn’t bad, but she wasn’t the star she is now, and doesn’t get enough screen time. Amusingly, and perhaps presciently, she does do the Vulcan hand sign at one point. That was interesting. Stanley Tucci gives by far the best performance in the film, and that says a lot given how thankless his role is. The best moment in the entire film comes near the end, a brief exchange involving a cabbie from Albania. That was funny. The rest is pretty damn silly and phony.

 

Perhaps somewhat of a fable, I guess this is the kind of film you’re either gonna go with, or resist it. I recoiled…badly. I can’t for the life of me work out why Spielberg was attracted to a story like this, but more importantly why he has seen to treat it in such a corny, comedic way. Superficial, mostly not very well-acted, insincere, and kind of dumb. Trivial stuff by people who should’ve known better, though it’s better than Spielberg’s later “War Horse” (probably his worst film to date).

 

Rating: D+