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Stars:
Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride, and Diego Luna
Writers:
Sascha Gervasi and Jeff Nathanson
Based
On A Story By: Andrew Niccol and Sascha Gervasi
Director:
Steven Spielberg
Feature
length: 129 minutes
Languages:
English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Sound, Dolby Surround Sound and French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and
Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2004/DVD Release: 2004
Theatrical
Distributor: DreamWorks Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: DreamWorks Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
In
his third collaboration with Director Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks plays Viktor
Navorski, a Russian tourist who becomes entangled in a bureaucratic loophole
when a military coup in his home country traps him within the International
Terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport. As a result his passport is
indefinitely invalidated because the United States refuses to recognize the new
government. Therefore Viktor cannot enter United States soil and he cannot
return home because technically his country no longer exists. Thus Viktor begins
to sample American culture through the mall like Terminal and in the process
touches many people’s lives. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a Flight Attendant who
has had a lot of bad relationships with older men and in some ways is a bit
compulsive. She casually offers to take Viktor out twice after only speaking to
him for a few minutes, but catches herself in the act while still falling for
the well meaning and innocent charms Viktor has to offer.
After
seeing her in all those cell phone commercials, it is easy to take Catherine
Zeta-Jones for granted, but in “The Terminal” she looks absolutely stunning.
Tom Hanks’ performance is fine, but he is somewhat overexposed in these
romantic light dramas to such an extent that I could never really watch him
without thinking this is Tom Hanks playing a Russian tourist instead of this is
a Russian tourist. The film has warm sentimentality to it that one expects from
a Steven Spielberg film like this and for about the first half an hour or so I
found myself to be very involved in the story, but then my suspension of
disbelief just began to slip away with the cutesy mishaps that occur to Viktor
in part because there is never any doubt that things are going to okay and the
film attempts to make the Stanley Tucci character into this villain, which gets
ever more ridiculous because after awhile one has to ask, why the heck would
this guy care? So as far as Spielberg films go, “The Terminal” is good
rental material for those in the mood for something light, but I personally
cannot ever imagine myself watching this film again unless I was with someone
who wanted to see it. Another caveat I had about the film was how pretty they
made JFK airport seem. Now I have never been to the international section, but
I’ve flown out of JFK and it just is not that nice of a place. Quite honestly,
I think the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan might look nicer inside
than parts of JFK where I’ve waited for a flight.
DreamWorks
Home Entertainment is releasing “The Terminal” in both a movie-only DVD and
a three-disc limited edition gift set. I screened the movie-only version, which
presents “The Terminal” in a beautiful anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect
ratio that is truly among the best looking DVD transfers I’ve seen come from
DreamWorks in a long time. I’ll even go so far as to state that it is also one
of the overall better looking films available on DVD to consumers in Region One,
North America. There was a slight higher fidelity to the English DTS Digital 5.1
Theatrical Surround Soundtrack, but otherwise both the English Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Soundtrack and the English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround
Soundtrack sounded more or less equal in quality with a nice surround sound
spectrum. An English Dolby Surround Soundtrack and a French Language Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack are also available as listening options along
with English Captions for the hearing impaired and French and Spanish Language
Subtitles encoded onto the DVD.
The
menus are fully animated with images from the film and feature full motion scene
selections. Also available in a full screen edition that is sold separately,
“The Terminal” is available at retailers on and offline now courtesy of
DreamWorks Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2004 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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