Imagine boarding on a plane and mid-air, this eerie question crosses your mind that what if there is an emergency landing or a crash? I do ask myself these questions every time I am going through the check in. Flight mishaps, as unfortunate as they sound, are however a possible outcome of your journey and in those desperate life and death situations your life continues to hang in the capable hands of the pilot and the co-pilot. Well, if you love flying, then this heroic story of a saviour pilot is a must read for you.
Sully: Miracle on the Hudson, an American biographical drama directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Todd Komarnicki that hit the theatres worldwide in 2016 is an illustration of the 2009 autobiography Highest Duty by Chesley Sully Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow. Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart starrer this film, is based on Sullenberger’s 2009 emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 carrying 155 passengers on the Hudson river without any major casualties that underwent subsequent investigation and publication. This $240 million grosser received a positive critical response and bagged several prestigious awards. The ratings of film stand at 7.4/10 on IMDB, 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and 4.5/5 on Vudu.
PLOT
The film opens with the take off of the US Airways Flight 1549 assigned to Captain Chesley Sully Sullenberger and First Officer Jeff Skiles with 155 passengers and crew members on board from LaGuardia Airport to Charles Douglas International Airport on January 15, 2009. Within a short span of the course of the flight, it meets with an accident where both of the engines fail after a strike with a flock of birds. After the instructions by the ATC for an emergency landing at the nearest Teteboro Airport, the Captain makes a measured calculation and decides to land the Airbus A320 in the middle of the Hudson river to avoid a crash and fatalities trying to reach the closest airport. Even though there was no major casualty, this incident undergoes investigation where the preliminary data by the ACARS showed that the left engine was running slow at idle power and theoretically, the flight could have made it to any nearest airport. Eventually, the NTSB runs several computerized simulations of the aircraft after the engine failure and suspects it may be a case of pilot error that would end Sully’s career. While firmly insisting on the decisions taken on the day of the incident, the Captain and the First Officer demand for a rerun of the simulations with live pilots as computers can’t take human decisions at a period of crisis. After the live simulation tests, did the computerized theoretical outcome put forward by ACARS and the NTSB proved to be right or was it the human decision taken by Sully on that day? Curious to know? Then you know where to look.
WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH IT
The performance of Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart is very meticulous and apt. The portrayal of both the protagonists as Sully and Jeff making minute by minute calculated decision under duress of a life-threatening accident is outstanding. The cinematography and VFX is arresting. The dramatization of the sequence of events starting from the bird strike to the emergency landing of the aircraft in the middle of the Hudson is very acute. As most parts of the film are computerized and simulated, the presentations of the same scene several times but under different circumstances is extremely conspicuous. If we talk about editing, then it is a work of proficiency. Specifically, with the NTSB simulation actions, with each passing minute, you get this bizarre feeling of what could be the outcome. It keeps you on your toes from beginning to end. The background score of the film is pitch perfect and has been in sync with the entire incident. The writer of the film has undoubtedly done an amazing job. The imitation of the protagonists adapted from the autobiography is pretty remarkable. The direction of the film is marvellous. Other than certain controversial changes made in the film, everything else is very detailed. In a nutshell, this film is a treat for your eyes.
