Movie Review: The Terminal (2004)

The Terminal is one of director Steven Spielberg’s most forgettable movies, but that’s not to say it’s bad. The plot is actually quite fun, but it definitely doesn’t really feel like a Spielberg movie. I guess it feels like a Spielberg movie in terms of its sappy sentimentality, but it’s a much smaller story than he usually tackles.

Following a coup in his fictional home country, Krakozhia, Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), is left stateless in an international terminal at JFK in New York.

He doesn’t understand what’s going on, and the head of homeland security at the airport, Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci), wants him to try and escape so that he’ll be arrested and no longer be his problem.

Hanks’s performance isn’t really that good, to be honest. His accent is beyond silly, but I guess since it’s a fictional country, can we really say it’s bad? At any rate, I think it’s difficult to imagine another actor in this role. Hanks’s charm carries the movie and makes the light comedy work the way I don’t think other actors would have.

The movie is very cliched, as Navorski sort of becomes a folk hero among airport and airline employees, while Dixon becomes more and more determined to get rid of him. Of course, his terminal is also being monitored, and it’s been terminal of the year for three years in a row. This is a really small part of the plot, but I felt like pointing it out, since I really don’t think it’s necessary.

Anyways, the movie’s okay. It’s nothing special, and it is too long. But with Hanks’s likability, it’s worth watching. I’m also really impressed by the set design, since they obviously didn’t shoot in an airport. Everything was constructed as a set, and it looks great.

Rating: 6/10