The Terminal (2004)

Many years ago, when the blog wasn't even a remote idea, I was on a Tom Hanks watching spree. I don't know why, but I wanted to watch all of his movies. The Terminal I kept avoiding because I thought it was about someone terminally ill —no, I didn't read plots back then either. Today, after seeing it was from Spielberg, I decided to check it out. And quite frankly, I'm shocked Spielberg made such a film as it is so different. In a good way. 

The film is about Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), a man from the fictional Eastern European nation of Krakozhia who becomes stuck in the terminal of New York's JFK Airport as his country has been taken over in a coup, the US does not recognise the new nation and the borders of Krakozhia are closed. Forced to stay in the International Transit section until the war cools down, Viktor makes the airport his home and develops friendships with the people who work there.

As you can tell, the plot to The Terminal is far from being believable and realistic —it is indeed so far-fetched it could be classified as science fiction. It doesn't make a lot of sense either as it's often illogical, and there's a romantic subplot —actually, there's two of them— that makes the film quite confusing as it's hard to understand whether the story is supposed to be about immigration or just a love story. Despite this, despite the level of corny and cheesy it reaches, the thin and lighthearted story is an engaging, heartwarming one with a lot of cut and funny moments, one of those stories that make you laugh and cry and feel good.

And that happens because The Terminal cares more about its characters than the story it tells. Well-written characters with a nice characterization and development you won't find in here as pretty much all of them are stereotypes with no depth or realism whatsoever. However, there's something charming about them that makes you care about them and feel sympathy for them.

Especially toward Viktor who is beautifully portrayed by Tom Hanks. While it's not an Oscar-worthy performance, Hanks is totally believable as the naive, extremely trusting and always full of hopes man who finds himself in a limbo, accent, mannerism and all. He doesn't have a very good chemistry with Catherine Zeta-Jones, which is why the romance between their characters doesn't work, but he comes across as such a nice guy you feel hurt when he feels hurt.

DreamWorks Pictures

As for the rest of the cast, they are okay. Stanley Tucci, however, deserves a mention. He plays Dixon, the asshole/temporary customs director who tries his best to prevent Viktor from leaving the airport. Essentially, he is the villain. And he would be just a villain if it wasn't for the layers added to the character by Tucci's performance.