The Terminal

[4/5]

The Terminal is an interesting movie. This is mainly because it's a comedy, not a genre that director Steven Spielberg is known for contributing to in any quantity. There's also not that much that's obviously funny about a man trapped in an airport terminal indefinitely, particularly when his country is wracked by a military coup and a rebellion against it. The plot steals a couple of elements from the rom-com genre, although this is no chick flick, and the sun doesn't set on the happy couple.

Tom Hanks puts in a stirling performance as Viktor Navorski, displaying a knack for comic timing and delivery that hadn't really been on show since his earlier works such as Big. His character's Eastern European accent and poor grasp of English are portrayed convincingly, and Hanks renders the character with the quiet grit and determination of a man on a mission. Catherine Zeta-Jones is an air stewardess with man troubles, and that's all I can really say about her. Her performance was "good enough" and certainly average against Hanks', and by the end, her part is largely superfluous anyway, seeming to serve only to draw the story out to full feature length. Having said that, there are some lovely scenes between her and Hanks, such as their dinner date, and there is obvious chemistry between the actors throughout. I do think, however, that the only reason she received top billing for this film was because of her status in the Hollywood A-List; the part certainly doesn't demand it.

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Chi McBride, Kumar Pallana, Diego Luna and Stanley Tucci all put in good supporting performances. Tucci is the cold, officious, bureaucratic immigration officer Frank Dixon whose attempts to cover his ass ultimately expose the character's greatest flaws. McBride, Pallana and Luna play "The Three Amigos" who bond with Navorski, and there's a small cameo from 24's Mike Novick, Jude Ciccolella.

The film opens with Navorski arriving at JFK International Airport, New York. Navorski is fervently clutching a can of dried peanuts at passport control when his passport is rejected. After being passed up the hierarchy to Director Frank Dixon, we learn that Navorski's native Krakhozia has fallen to a military coup. During the transition, all Krakhozian passports were revoked by the government, and the US authorities annulled all entry visas from Krakhozia. There are no return flights to Krakhozia. This sequence of events has left Navorski without country, and so is deemed an "unacceptable", required to remain within the terminal until such time as he is able to legally enter the United States or return home.

All this passes Navorski by as his English is poor to say the least, until he returns to the terminal and sees scenes of the Krakhozian war on CNN. Now understanding the nature of his plight, he finds himself an unused airport gate to sleep at, and starts a daily routine. Collecting unused luggage trolleys, he returns them to the depots to be rewarded with a quarter per trolley, which he uses to buy food. Buying an English version of his New York travel guide, he improves his English. He looks for a job; eventually he's taken on as a construction contractor, earning a good wage. Within time, he has befriended most of the customer-facing staff at the various airport outlets, and in the security team too.

Viktor has a couple of chance encounters with Amelia Warren (Zeta-Jones), an air hostess who is having an affair with a married man in New York. All is not well in her relationship, and she asks Viktor out to dinner in New York a couple of times, which, of course, he must refuse. The language barrier provides some fuel for the inevitable misunderstanding between these characters. At the same time, he is helping Enrique Cruz (Luna), a food truck driver, with some girl problems of his own; he has his eye on the beautiful immigration officer Delores Torres (Zoë Saldana, soon to be playing Uhura in the new Star Trek feature), but has no way to woo her. Navorski's daily trips to Torres to request entry into the US provide the perfect entry point for Cruz, so he offers to feed Navorski in exchange for carrying information between himself and Torres.

There are a couple of features of the plot that spoiled the story for me a little. For example, there is no concept of the amount of time passing in the film. This device generally works quite well, as airports are rather timeless places, where hours can pass in seconds and minutes can pass in days. However, it also makes character development, such as Viktor's self-education in English seem too fast to be realistic. There's also the non-sequitur involved in Viktor being taken on as a building constructor: he's refused work at all the outlets in the terminal, and on his way home he comes across a half-finished wall. Over night he completes the work with a beautiful flair and when the foreman (Ciccolella) returns with his crew the next day, he's offered a job based on the quality of his work.

Zeta-Jones' character, as I've mentioned already, appears to be mostly superfluous, providing only a way for Viktor to tell his full story and reasons for travelling to New York. By the end of the film, she has found him a way out of the airport and into the US, but by the time this happens, the war in Krakhozia is over and Navorski is a free man again. As much as the other flaws, the Warren character silently screams "I'm a plot device" over and over.

Having said all that, the film is a truly charming and enjoyable comedy, and tells a very human story. It's also the first film I've watched at home for a while that's truly engrossed me. It is easy to sympathise with Navorski's situation, as most people have been stuck in airport hell at one time or another and can extrapolate that experience to something more permanent. The script is frequently witty, and there's a liberal sprinkling of visual gags to keep the slapstick fans entertained (there's a running visual joke with a wet floor). It has something for everyone, and as such would probably make a good date/quiet-night-in-with-your-partner movie.