The Terminal (2004) Movie Information:

The Terminal (2004) Directed by: Steven Spielberg The Terminal (2004) Written by: Jeff Nathanson, Andrew Niccol, Sacha Gervasi The Terminal (2004) Cast: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Diego Luna, Chi McBride, Zoe Saldana, Barry Henley, Kumar Pallana, Eddie Jones, Jude Ciccolella

The Terminal (2004) U.S. Distributor: Dreamworks SKG The Terminal (2004) U.K. Distributor: UIP

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The Terminal (2004) Synopsis:

Viktor Navorski is a visitor to New York from Eastern Europe. His homeland erupts in a fiery coup, while he is in the air en route to America. Stranded at Kennedy Airport with a passport from nowhere, he is unauthorized to actually enter the United States and must improvise his days and nights in the terminal's international transit lounge, until the war at home is over. As the weeks and months stretch on, Viktor finds the compressed universe of the terminal to be a richly complex world of absurdity, generosity, ambition, amusement, status, serendipity--and even romance with a beautiful flight attendant named Amelia. But he has long worn out his welcome with airport official Frank Dixon, who considers Viktor a bureaucratic glitch--a problem he cannot control but wants desperately to erase.

The Terminal (2004) Movie Review:

Tom Hanks aggressively rebounds from last spring’s horrific The Ladykillers as a stuck Eastern European citizen at JFK airport in Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal. The film is a light comedy that is a departure for Spielberg and a challenge for Hanks to once again prove he is one of the best in the business. Though purely entertaining, much like the recent film The Stepford Wives, the last minute reshoots of The Terminal’s ending sinks it from being an overall winner.

Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) is a citizen of the fictitious country Krakozhia and is on a mission to New York City to keep a promise that literally rests in an old can of Planter’s peanuts. However, right when he arrives at JFK airport, Navorski is denied entry into the United States and is taken to meet with the airport’s head security officer Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci). Dixon informs Navorski that while on his incoming flight, his country has erupted into a violent political war. Therefore his visa is invalid, the United States does not recognize his country’s new government, and all flights to the Krakozhia have been halted until the violence ends. Dixon is unable to allow Navorski into or out of the United States, hence he is remanded to the airport’s transit lounge. Navorski does not understand English too well and with Dixon unable to find him a translator, he is left in the airport on his own. Slowly, the Krakozhia citizen learns of his country’s fate through CNN and also learns English by his bedside at the under construction Gate 67. Navorski stills vows to accomplish the reason why he came to the United States and also hopes that his country has a quick and peaceful resolution. While living at the airport, he makes friends with an aging janitor from India named Gupta (Kumar Pallana) and a baggage handler named Mulroy (Chi McBride). Without any money, Navorski works out a deal with a food services worker (Diego Luna) to be a matchmaker for him and a beautiful INS worker named Delores (Zoe Saldana) in exchange for three meals a day. As the months go by, he also falls for a stunning flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who has continuos problems with her ongoing affair to a married man. On top of this, Navorski is a constant headache for Dixon, who more than once tries to make him somebody else’s problem.

Steven Spielberg captures balanced light comedy in his melting pot setting of the JFK airport. Every character is of another culture throughout this film, and part of Spielberg’s message is the racism, acceptance of diversity, and immigration standards of the United States. This film would have never surfaced shortly after the attacks of 9/11, but there is implementation of the agency (Homeland Security) and measures that have been placed in the airport setting since. The film is very well directed and though it does not have the originality or wit of Catch Me if You Can, there are still some very amusing comedic moments throughout. However, the ending of the film really derails and Spielberg seems shallow in what he wanted to capture. The conclusions to the character’s relationships are blank and a lot of the film’s established substance disappears during the last twenty minutes.

Writers Sacha Gervasi and Jeff Nathanson composed a funny, but not overly clever script. This film is sort of like a comedic Cast Away with a sprinkle of The Truman Show in it. Though mostly through Spielberg’s choices, the message of immigration and diversity is captured, but there are still many hiccups throughout the screenplay. The relationship that Navorski implements between Delores and the food service worker Enrique is cute, but not believable. The outcome of their relationship explains itself. The concept of a man being stuck for this amount of time is also sketchy, even though this film is loosely based on a man in France being stuck at airport. Outside of Navorski and Dixon, most of the characters, especially the flight attendant Amelia are paper-thin as well. However, there are some geniune moments, as to how Navorski earns money and learns of the war in his country. The acting by Hanks in the early moments of the film when he observes the violence break out in Krakozhia are brilliant.

After supplying us with perhaps the weakest performance of his career in The Ladykillers, Hanks delivers a wonderful performance as the Viktor Navorski. Though not as physically demanding of his similar “stuck” role in Cast Away, Hanks still shines and is so likeable as always. On the other hand, Catherine Zeta-Jones is dismal in her performance as the flight attendant Amelia Warren. Though gorgeous, Zeta-Jones just seemed out of place and not a part of this film as Amelia. Stanley Tucci is solid in his role as the aggravated head of security Dixon. Tucci shares some terrific moments with Hanks, including one of the film’s earlier scenes where he uses his lunch to explain to Hanks’ character of the war in Krakozhia. All of the other supporting actors deliver what is called of them, except for Kumar Pallana who is brittle as the janitor Gupta.

Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal is an entertaining film with some fun moments. Though nothing close to what one would expect from a master filmmaker like Spielberg, the film should still be seen to watch Tom Hanks do his magic. The themes and elements that Spielberg captures are understandable, but the film’s lackluster reshot ending leaves the film feeling more deflated than uplifting.

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The Terminal (2004) review written by: Bailey Henderson