 | |
List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Dreamworks Video
Salesrank: 5245
Released: November 23, 2004 |
| Our Price: $3.95 |
| Used Price: $0.20 |
|
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
|
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 (Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
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!
could have been better 
2008-03-27 - i personally love good movies that are creative and original, and i thought this one is one of them. i own the movie and i watch it from time to time, but to no extend of the imagination would i consider this movie a great movie. certainly tom hanks gave one great performance, he's indeed one of the best actors of his generation if not the best so i give him two thumbs up. Catherine zeta jones stunk up the whole movie (not surprisingly, she sucks), not that the rest of the cast was that great either.
Changed My Mind about Hanks 
2008-01-20 - Unil I saw The Terminal, I was not a fan of Tom Hanks. I thought of him as a McActor, the Jimmy Stewart or Gary Cooper of his generation. A competent but not compelling actor. That changed when I saw Hanks's Viktor Navorski. Hanks anchors and drives this delightful movie with a masterly performance.
Viktor, a tourist from Eastern Europe, has just landed at JFK and is being processed through customs. He doesn't speak English. A quirk in customs regulations causes Viktor to be confined overnight at the airport. Bureaucratic bungling turns Viktor's confinement into an extended stay. Viktor's bureaucratic tormenter is the heartless and mean-spirited Frank Dixon, Director of Customs and Border Protection, played to snarling perfection by Stanley Tucci.
A memorable scene is when Viktor presents Dixon with a taxidermed Virgin Isle swordfish to add to the collection of fishing trophies proudly displayed on the walls of his office. The fish is almost as big as Viktor. Not only does the peevish official viciously reject the gift, he promises Viktor "You will not set one foot in New York City. Not a single toe in the United States of America. Do you understand what I am saying to you?"
You see the anger welling up in Viktor. He is about to explode with rage, about to flatten the bully with a well-deserved roundhouse right, or at least curse him out. Then he summons his better instincts. "Yes. You don't like fish," he says and walks out. Viktor is too decent a man to stoop to Dixon's level. The scene finishes with a light dollop of comedy as Viktor clumsily drags the outsized fish out the door.
Of course people like Viktor don't really exist. The movie is pure fantasy about a world as we wish it could be. It is full of brotherhood and camaraderie among airport employees. We all know that in the real world, the workplace is full of backstabbing, one-upmanship, and cutthroat competition.
This airport is a joyous place to work whereas a real one is peopled with workers struggling to cope with crushing drudgery. The workers at this airport are good-hearted, loveable characters and pretty women like Zoe Saldana, who plays Torres, the comely bureaucrat who dutifully stamps "DENIED" on Viktor's daily application to be released from his terminal purgatory.
So what's wrong with a little fantasy? If you can buy into it, The Terminal is rewarding movie. You would have to watch at least three other movies to experience all the heartwarming, romantic, and funny touches in The Terminal.
The Hollywood blockbuster playbook dictates a bittersweet romance. The Terminal's version pairs Viktor with Amelia, the bookish flight attendent played by Catherine Zeta Jones. The movie would have been just as entertaining without this artless contrivance. Jones's screen allure compensates for the trying moments.
A word about the airport set that was created for this movie. When I saw the film, I thought "Wow. I didn't know they had such nice airports in New York." Then I found out it's not a real airport but a set. Like the workers, the airport is yet another charming character in the movie.
Speaking of villians, fans of the TV show House will recall Edward Vogler, the angry executive determined to destroy House. That's Chi McBride, who plays soft-hearted Mulroy in The Terminal.
