Monday, October 31, 2005

The Terminal

I watched The Terminal, and it was good (Tom Hanks? Steven Spielberg? Of course it's going to be good).

But it wasn't great. The premise is tough (man without a country stuck in the international portion of JFK, not being able to go home, and not being able to enter the U.S.), so you're really left with a hefty character film.

And it just wasn't as good on that front. Characters make these sudden changes, and they didn't feel organic. Or I didn't feel prepped for them. Or something.

And Catherine Zeta-Jones does an atypically wooden performance (atypical outside of Entrapment, anyway).

But there are some great character moments.

I think Diego Luna is really underrated.

And for me, there were two powerful/ingenious moments in the film: Viktor Navorski's (Tom Hanks) reaction to the news of military violence in his home country (watch for the scenic metaphor -- subtle and telling), and a great Don Quixote/tilting at windmills moment.

The film's worth a watch overall.

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