The Terminal Review
by Karina Montgomery (karina AT cinerina DOT com)June 29th, 2004
The Terminal
Matinee with Snacks
Not unlike Cast Away, The Terminal relies heavily on its star, Tom Hanks, to convey the essence of the story. Tom Hanks, as in Cast Away, delivers a beautiful and nuanced performance that makes you want to love everyone as much as you love him. As Viktor Navorski, a citizen of fictional Krakosia (in political flux), he must fend for himself with little resource or opportunity beyond those he finds within himself, trapped in the no-man's-land of the terminal. The story is based on a true one - and it's an alarming sign of what excessive bureaucracy has wrought with regards to Homeland Security. This guy, clearly harmless, cannot carry out his simple, personal mission in New York City, while creeps and bad guys slip past unheralded.
Viktor, luckily, is patient, intelligent, and winsome, but mercy comes slow for him. My companion and I writhed in frustration and empathy during the first good chunk of the film. He accepts his fate and does what he can to mitigate the problem until it can be resolved. He is a man who, perhaps because of his simple eastern bloc backwater upbringing, understands what is really important. Waiting is nothing. Honesty and honor and passion and kindness are what matter, and promises made. Waiting, eh, it is, how you say, not much of thing.
Sadly, no one really wants to help him; at first because they are New York "not my problem" people, but later, because they will miss him. Even in the end (for you know an end must come to his trap), I wasn't sure I wanted him to leave. We the audience and the various characters of the airport come to love him and to imagine him leaving makes one sad. The only fault I could see in this film was the motivation of Stanley Tucci's character, Frank Dixon, the airport administrator whose only apparent raison d'etre was to be the source of obstacle for Viktor. Tucci is impeccable as Dixon, which speaks volume to his talent as an actor, because Dixon's actions are arbitrary as Caesar with hardly any of the stakes. Even when he tries to be helpful he only makes it worse.
Catherine Zeta-Jones, at her least vampish, is a sweet point of interest and light in what is otherwise a survival tale. She is more fetching than Wilson the volleyball, but she is easier for me in the audience to leave behind.
Attention, Academy voters: This film needs to win for Production Design. Director Steven Spielberg and his team built (supposedly) JFK's International Terminal, the mall kind of part, wherein the vast majority of this film takes place. Insanely amazing. If they could include the Muzak offerings as Best Original Score somehow, The Terminal would probably take that prize as well.
The sheer craftsmanship of the film alone should captivate you. Every one of old master Janusz Kaminski's shots is perfectly planned, perfectly balanced. Fill that camera with Hanks trying to find out what has happened to him, and you come away with a very rewarding filmgoing experience. It's lovely.
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These reviews (c) 2004 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
