"Sully," written by Todd Komarnicki and adapted from the book Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters (co-written Chesley Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow) and directed by Clint Eastwood, is a movie more interested in offering a complete portrait of Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger and the investigation that followed his landing an airplane on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009 than simply retelling the situation and offering praise for his actions. Tom Hanks stars as the title character, a pilot who faces the toughest 208 seconds of his life on the day that his plane is struck by a flock of birds, knocking out both engines. Alongside his co-pilot Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart), Sully makes an intense water landing; the passengers are safe but Sully's reputation isn't. It's clear from the NTSB investigation that follows, Sully's decisions are so scrutinized that it looks like they're determined to find pilot error. After all, computer simulations say that he could have made it back to La Guardia or to nearby Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.
Hanks is excellent in showing how the pilot handled the incredible stress, doubts and mental anguish as he faces an onslaught of media requests; that he was plagued by lack of sleep and nightmares and suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome. In the media, Sully was often portrayed as a resolute hero. In the story, we find an introspective Sully to can't help but relive those 208 seconds, wondering if he endangered lives when he could have made it back to an airport. Nonetheless, as one character says to Sully, his heroism was the best news New Yorkers had heard in a long time 'especially with an airplane in it.' With "Sully," we see a true story of human goodness and skill during a time of possible catastrophe.
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