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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Dreamworks Video
Salesrank: 28673
Released: November 23, 2004 |
| Our Price: $2.50 |
| Used Price: $0.10 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Like an airport running at peak efficiency, The Terminal glides on the consummate skills of its director and star. Having refined their collaborative chemistry on Saving Private Ryan and Catch Me if You Can, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks mesh like the precision gears of a Rolex, turning a delicate, not-very-plausible scenario into a lovely modern-age fable (partly based on fact) that's both technically impressive and subtly moving. It's Spielberg in Capra mode, spinning the featherweight tale of Victor Navorski (Hanks, giving a finely tuned performance), an Eastern European who arrives at New York's Kennedy Airport just as his (fictional) homeland has fallen to a coup, forcing him, with no valid citizenship, to take indefinite residence in the airport's expansive International Arrivals Terminal (an astonishing full-scale set that inspires Spielberg's most elegant visual strategies). Spielberg said he made this film in part to alleviate the anguish of wartime America, and his master's touch works wonders on the occasionally mushy material; even Stanley Tucci's officious terminal director and Catherine Zeta-Jones's mixed-up flight attendant come off (respectively) as forgivable and effortlessly charming. With this much talent involved, The Terminal transcends its minor shortcomings to achieve a rare degree of cinematic grace. --Jeff Shannon
The Terminal (Full Screen Edition) Reviews:
No Exit 
2008-08-30 - It's easy to figure out how movies like this get made, the "high-concept" can be expressed in one sentence. Remember the opening sequence of The Player where film producer Tim Robbins listened to a series of preposterous one-sentence ideas for movies? Here goes. "Man entering JFK from failed state must take up residence in waiting area, existing in a state of limbo - hyjinx ensue." The idea is just so breathtakingly stupid and far-fetched that it's a wonder Spielberg gave it a second thought. However, if nothing else, Spielberg is good at movie magic, and here he has taken an abominable idea, an anemic script, and dressed them up with enough flotsam and jetsam to not lose money.
How did he do it? Well, start with Tom Hanks, as bankable as you get. You simply can't dislike Tom Hanks, because there's nothing there to dislike. Of course, there's nothing there to like either. He's like a loaf of Wonderbread, the ideal "everyman" actor - so totally nondescript that he slips into any role. Heck, Spielberg doesn't even make him speak English! Add Catherine Zeta Jones. Fellas, I don't know about you, but I would watch her in a dog food commercial. Make sure to add plenty of glamour location footage and production value, not to mention those all-important product placements. Then finish off with a really top shelf set of minor characters led by Kumar Pallana who nearly steals the film. (Remember him in 10 Items or Less?) In other words, if you've got enough tinsel, no one will notice that there is no tree.
Even the great Stanley Tucci cannot make anything out of his part - and I have seen him work miracles with much less. He's totally wasted. The sentimentality and bleary-eyed romanticism function on the 12-year old girl level we've come to associate with Spielberg, there are moments in this film so cloying one expects to see subtitles reading, "Cry now". I've been stuck in airport terminals myself, they're pretty bleak at 3:00 a.m. However, I'll take that bleakness over the cotton candy offered up by this movie any day. Gottago.
Great Acting In A Silly Movie
2008-07-21 - I loved this movie for about the first 30 minutes. After that it seemed like the story didn't know where to go. While I sort of enjoyed this movie I think it had mostly to do with Tom Hanks. He creates a character that is easy to like and he does an amazing job playing a person who doesn't speak english and is trapped in an airport. What I didn't like about this movie was that it was a bit silly. The whole point of why he came to the U.S. to begin with was supposed to be touching, but I just thought it was a bit silly in the end. This movie was interesting, but a lot of it was just so far fetched that when the movie ended I just felt it was very corny overall. Entertaining enough to keep you interested, yet a let down in total.
Huge Mistake for Hanks 
2008-06-13 - Normally, I think Tom Hanks makes some great films....but this was a disaster of a role.
The movie was one of the worst I've seen in a while.
it's good 
2008-05-09 - I own this movie and I love it. I think all the actors are great in it. It's entertaining and a little touching. It's about a good man in a bad situation and how he makes the best of it. He is determined and loyal. This is actually a good movie. Give it a shot. Just don't order from pieceofmindbooks.
The terminal...
2008-05-07 - Based on a true story?? I can't hardly see how but it sure does make for a cute movie. Tom Hanks does an excellent job. It is a bit slow but that isn't a problem for me.
A man is stuck in an airport terminal for YEARS and while there he does some reconstruction and finds true love!
