Rated PG-13 - Running Time: 2:08 - Released 6/18/04
THE TERMINAL
Rated PG-13 - Running Time: 2:08 - Released 6/18/04
When I reviewed Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Catch
Me If You Can, a fluffy but likable film which co-starred
Tom Hanks, I said that it was vaguely disappointing because, since
those two have built such a reputation for excellence, my expectations
of them had grown too high. Well, this time there isn’t anything
vague about it: I didn’t like The Terminal. Even though
it’s based on a true story, even though it features the work
of one of the best directors and actors currently employed, and
even though it is technically as superior as anything either or
both have produced in the past, its script (by Andrew Niccol,
Sacha Gervasi, and Catch Me writer Jeff Nathanson) is nothing
less than absurd, having been twisted, turned, romanticized, and
Hollywoodized to the point of losing all of its based-on-a-true-story
charm.
I guess part of my problem is that I made the mistake of watching
my new DVD of Schindler’s List, one of my favorite
movies of all time, the day before I went to this movie. Seeing
the heights of excellence to which Spielberg has soared in the
past only emphasized the comparative mediocrity of his latest
film. There are so many holes in the plot of this movie, so many
ridiculous lapses in credibility, so many poorly drawn, patently
unbelievable characters and events, I was appalled almost from
the first scene. Even if the general framework of this story really
did happen, this retelling is almost entirely preposterous and
unbelievable, and the only reason the film achieves a barely passing
grade is because of the technical talents exuded by its director,
cast and crew. Spielberg has proven himself a genius, and can
afford good people, like cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, film
editor Michael Kahn, and composer John Williams, but no amount
of talent can offset the myriad weaknesses of this script.
The story begins when Viktor Navorski (Hanks), an immigrant
from the fictional eastern European country of Krakozhia who is
on his way to New York City, is stranded at JFK airport (which,
by the way, is re-created in true Spielbergian style down to the
last escalator, including arrival/departure monitors, banks of
seating, and a fully functional food court and shopping center
with numerous name stores and restaurants). As it happens, a war
in Viktor’s home country has resulted in a bloody coup and
a change of government, and Krakozhia as we know it has ceased
to exist, rendering his passport invalid. He is escorted to the
office of customs supervisor Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci), who,
despite the fact that Viktor obviously does not understand a word
of English, explains to him in a very complicated and rude fashion
that he is “unacceptable,” actually exploding a bag
of chips from his own lunch all over his own office to illustrate
how Viktor’s country has been decimated. Viktor is then turned
loose in the airport with strict orders not to leave, while Dixon
engages in several ridiculous and borderline illegal plots to
entice him to escape so that he’s “somebody else’s
problem.”
As days turn to weeks and weeks to months, Viktor takes up
residence in a portion of the airport which is supposedly under
construction (although no one ever comes to work on it). He makes
friends with various airport service personnel, such as a customs
clerk (Zoe Saldana) who advises him to fill out the same form
every day so that she may make a fresh application of her red
“denied” stamp; a trio of baggage handler/custodians
(Chi McBride, Diego Luna, Kumar Pallana) who run a regular poker
game using items from the Lost And Found department as ante capital;
and a comely flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones)
who becomes extremely fond of him despite that fact that she regularly
misunderstands his broken English and is engaged in an ongoing
affair with a married man. Meanwhile, Viktor manages to eke out
a living, first by scrounging quarters, then by striking up a
deal with a food service worker, and finally by joining the airport’s
construction crew (even though he still doesn’t have a passport,
a green card, a work visa, or any form of identification), and
makes friends with just about every worker and store owner in
the airport’s shopping center, until they all are rooting
for him to defy Dixon’s orders and enter the U.S. illegally.
I would think that the customs and security personnel and general
management at JFK would be absolutely incensed by this movie,
as they are nearly all portrayed as alternately stupid, insensitive,
rude, and/or criminal, not to mention generally ineffective at
their jobs. Scenes in which the petty and vindictive Dixon watches
a security monitor, anxiously hoping for Viktor to walk out the
door so that he may contact the authorities, are interspersed
with scenes of Viktor using airport construction materials to
build himself a virtual apartment (not to mention an extremely
ornate and elaborate gift for Amelia), complete with an airport-owned
soda vending machine as his own personal refrigerator. Although
he is ostensibly portrayed as a good man because he refuses to
defy the restrictions placed on him, he is constantly breaking
other rules which are inexplicably ignored by the authorities.
As usual, Hanks makes us like and empathize with his character
despite the textual imperfections which would doom a lesser actor.
His performance is certainly likable and believable, although
his Russian-esque gibberish is sometimes quite obviously false
(especially in the scene where he converses with a man who is
actually speaking Russian). But the whole plot of this movie is
an elaborate cock-up, a ridiculous attempt at romanticizing a
story which, if it had been told truthfully and without embellishment,
would probably have been quite engaging.
Incidentally, the real story of Mehran “Alfred” Nasseri, the Iranian refugee who was stranded in Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport in 1988 and apparently chose to stay there despite subsequently receiving permission to live in Belgium, has indeed been the inspiration for at least two films before, namely the 1993 French comedy Tombés Du Ciel and the 2001 mock documentary film Here To Where (in which Nasseri himself appeared). Although I have not seen either of these films, I’d be willing to bet either is preferable to this version.
I think I’ll go watch Saving Private Ryan. ***
