On January 15th 2009, after a bird strike with the loss of two turbines, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) and First Officer Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) land an Airbus A320 with 155 passengers on the Hudson River saving their lives. Sully is claimed a hero by the press and public; however the official investigation reports that one of the left engines was running at idle and not damaged. And the flight simulator indicates that it would be possible to land at LaGuardia or Teterboro. Sully has to defend himself to the commission; otherwise Sully has to defend his reputation and career showing new evidences of the incident. Will he succeed?

"Sully" is another great film directed by Clint Eastwood with Tom Hanks in the lead role. These two names would be enough to show the quality of this movie. But the story is excellent, based on the biography of Sully and the screenplay keeps the attention of the viewer until the credits. In addition, there are Aaron Eckhart and Laura Linney in a support role. In the end, "Sully" is a great tribute to the hero of the Hudson River. Mt vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sully: O Herói do Rio Hudson" ("Sully: the Hero of the Hudson River")

The story of Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger landing a passenger plane in the Hudson River on 15th January 2009 is one that fascinates and inspires, it's a remarkable story and makes one show a lot of respect for a man rightly regarded as a hero.

'Sully' may not be a high point of either director Clint Eastwood or star Tom Hanks's careers (both having very highly regarded careers with great films and performances),it didn't blow me away and may have been better as a documentary. It is nonetheless very impressively done and on the most part is still a good film, with a lot of great elements as well as a few not so convincing ones, and its honesty and understatement are to be admired. It takes a remarkable story and mostly does do it justice, though it is not hard to see why not everybody will like it.

As well done the understated mood is, occasionally 'Sully' feels a little too muted even for what it's trying to portray. Other than the air, landing and rescue scenes, which are riveting and nail-biting, it does lack tension and some scenes are more compelling than others (the aforementioned air, landing and rescue scenes, Hanks in the bar and Hanks and Eckhart together for instances are more involving than any scene with the NTSB and Sully's wife).

Laura Linney does very well as Lorraine and handles the character with dignity and empathy, but the role is thankless and underwritten, on top of that her screen time is pretty limited, Linney deserves better than this. More of a problem was the stock villain portrayal of the NTSB, far too extreme and very heavy-handed. The ending does satisfy for all that roots for Sully at the start, though the outcome was very much foreseeable for anybody familiar with the story and compared to the more sombre understated feel of the rest of the film it felt somewhat pat.

Production values however are high. It is beautifully photographed with good use of locations and above average effects. The recreation scenes don't look too cheap either. Eastwood's direction is intelligent and admirably restrained. The music score is not the most unforgettable of ones, but it is still very well suited to the film's tone and wisely doesn't go over the top or feel anaemic.

It's a very thoughtfully written film too and treats its audience and subject matter with sensitivity and respect. The subtle dry humour from Eckhart's character is well judged and not misplaced as it could easily have been. The story is not a tense or exciting one, but it's dealt with honesty and deep humanity with some inspiring and powerful moments.

Hanks gives a master-class in grace, dignity and subtlety, holding everything together with great composure and telling a lot even with just his eyes. One really believes how much of an emotional toll being hailed as a hero but also being investigated has on Sully. Eckhart is sympathetic and provides some never overdone or too frequent dry humour that leavens things up. Linney does much with little and the rest of the cast do very well.

Overall, very impressive if not miraculous. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The story of the pilot who successfully landed his damaged passenger plane into the Hudson river in New York, saving the lives of every person on board, is a great one. It's made good books and good documentaries, I'm sure. As for a feature film, I'm still not convinced, having just watched SULLY. This is a Clint Eastwood movie in which Eastwood seems on autopilot and largely disinterested in the material; there's none of the heart of LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA here. Tom Hanks does his usual nice-serious-authoritative role as the hero of the hour, making the best of it as only he can; the film's fragmented narrative doesn't work all that well, and the use of dream sequences and the like is a bit of a cheat. There's also some surprisingly sloppy CGI work that had me feeling like I was watching an Asylum film at times.