Sully

The harrowing, death-defying heroics of Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and First Officer Jeff Skiles are truly remarkable: In January 2009, after both engines failed, they piloted US Air Flight 1549 to a safe water landing on the Hudson River in New York City. In doing so, they saved all 155 people on board. You may remember this from the news, and be intrigued that a movie is now going to explore their heroism, get inside their minds to understand how they acted, and immerse us in the details of how it all went down.

And then director Clint Eastwood starts Sully with the stultifying thud of an inquisition that has all the excitement of an economics conference. It’s Sully (Tom Hanks) and Skiles’ (Aaron Eckhart) first meeting with the National Transit Safety Board (NTSB), and the board members (Mike O’Malley, Anna Gunn, Jamey Sheridan) are questioning the decisions the pilots made. In fairness, the NTSB is just doing its job, but in depicting this first, Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby) emphasizes the investigation, which resembles a witch hunt, just as much as he does the miraculous landing itself. This establishes a flashback structure that doesn’t necessarily serve the movie well. (At least some of it has helped Eckhart work through his own personal fears; he said he’s “always felt like he was going to die in a plane wreck,” and that shooting the film was a way for him to work through that fear.)

The sluggish start soon gives way to a disjointed narrative that offers multiple perspectives of the landing. We see Sully and Skiles in the cockpit as they act, and act fast. We see the landing from Sully’s nightmares, from computer simulations, and from the view of the Air Traffic Control worker (Patch Darragh), who tried to guide them to safety.

Not helping are smaller moments that do little to add perspective: Sully calls his wife Lorrie (Laura Linney) multiple times, but she has little to do but look concerned. We also get flashbacks to Sully’s youth and military flying experience, but as one of the NTSB suits mentions, all that matters is US Air Flight 1549 – everything else is irrelevant. These scenes pad the running time to a little more than 90 minutes, which is short by Eastwood standards and suggests there wasn’t a lot from the real Sully’s book, titledHighest Duty, for screenwriter Todd Komarnicki to draw from.

Still, when we finally see the landing in full, it’s breathtaking, especially in IMAX. The ensuing rescue from NYPD’s finest is also inspiring, and the entire sequence puts a lump in your throat even though you already know it all turns out fine. More of this, and less of the back room bureaucratic nonsense Sully and Skiles had to endure, would’ve been welcome.

What’s more, we know the investigation is a moot point because every person who was on that plane is still alive. And that’s all that matters, right? Eastwood’s insistence on dwelling on the negative and second-guessing therefore seems foolish, and doesn’t help us appreciate Sully and Skiles’ heroism any more than we already do.

Sully doesn’t diminish our admiration of the real man whose instincts and 42 years of experience saved lives, but you can’t help but wish it did a better job of telling his story.

SULLY (2 1/2) Directed by Clint Eastwood. • Starring Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney. • Rated PG-13. • 95 min. • At Century Cinemas Del Monte, Century Marina, Northridge Cinemas, Lighthouse Cinemas, Cannery Row XD, Maya Cinemas.