Sully Review

With a strong central plot accompanied by even stronger performances, it feels like Sully should easily be a contender as we move closer to the award season. Unfortunately however, there is just a little something keeping it from being the ‘must watch’ cinema experience it would have you believe.Telling the true life story of the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’, Sully unveils what happened to the heroic captain, Chesley Sullenberger, both during and after the dramatic events on board US Airways flight 1549 way back in 2009.Biographical dramas are a rare breed of film in that they attract attention from both critics and fans alike. While they may not be the biggest money makers, there is always care taken when adapting someone’s life. Thankfully, Sully is no exception to this as we are given an interesting story told through solid direction.From the start, director Clint Eastwood is firmly in control of the project. Fleeting between the crash investigation and the events that took place during, the film is both well-paced and keeps a nice balance between now and then. When you add this to an impressive array of visuals, the final product easily makes it one of the stronger films in the last few months.In honesty, the story is rather simple but framing the plot around the crash investigation creates the perfect foundation for the flashback structure it takes on.  Despite this clever balance, it’s not perfect as some of the subplots that attempt to add depth to our central character lead to nothing as they are either underdeveloped or left completely alone. While this doesn’t hurt the story at all, it doesn’t create that depth that the best biopics really do well.Tom Hanks is excellent as the lead but as mentioned above, without the opportunity to add depth, it definitely doesn’t stand up against some of his previous roles. With support from Aaron Eckhart and Laura Linney, the cast list is round up nicely, even with the latter’s lack of real importance in the story as a whole.While Sully does manage to entertain in spades, a few subplot issues unfortunately hold it back from being the film that starts the Oscar season off nicely. Even so, a near perfect blend of story and performances mixed with well-structured pacing and impressive visuals make this one to catch it at the cinema. 4 out of 5 stars.