MYST #3: The Terminal

We've all been there. We've had all our fair share of experience dealing with the nuisances of the airport. Walking miles with heavy bags through the airport, waiting endlessly to get through security, paying overpriced foods in the terminals, waiting hours more for delayed or cancelled flights, or even competing for others for the use of the only outlet at the gate. Needless to say, I think we can all agree that airport adventures are not fun. They are annoying and frustrating and it just makes us feel like the sooner we get out of the airport the better. But now imagine having to actually live in the airport. Like literally sleep, eat, and even bathe in the terminal itself. Most of us can hardly handle a couple of hours stuck in the airport let alone live in one. Well if you have troubling envisioning it, The Terminal will help do it for you.

The above clip is the trailer for The Terminal. This 2004 film was directed by Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan and Jurassic Park) and is about an Eastern European man who is forced to live in the terminal of John F. Kennedy International Airport due to inaccessibility to the U.S and his own native country. Tom Hanks (Forest Gump) plays Viktor Navorski who has just arrived in JFK airport in New York City from a fictional country named Krakozhia. However, during his flight, a military revolution started in Krakozhia making the United States unable to recognize it as a nation anymore. This, in turn, makes Viktor's passport unacceptable due to the revolution, which also makes him unable to enter the U.S (outside the airport), or even return back to Krakozhia. Therefore, he is forced to stay in the terminal of the airport until the revolution ends. Barely even able to speak English, Viktor must literally live the airport life and learn about America solely through what he has access to in the terminal and the people he meets.

Viktor Navorski

This movie is by far one my favorite Spielberg movies. It may even be one of my favorites in general. It's a satirical piece that really uses characters and the airport as basically a giant metaphor. What I love most about this movie, is  its ability to send a message to the audience. The story was very well-written and the whole scenario of the film sends a blatant moral at the end of the movie about patience and waiting. Spielberg cleverly uses the context of airport life and create a story to basically make an ironic statement about the way businessmen, travelers, and tourists rush all over to catch a flight. Speaking of Spielberg, this film has definitely brought worth to his credibility as a director. Looking back at some of his prior movies with Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, or A.I, he has this amazing talent to make very touching and meaningful dramas. The Terminal is no exception  because he is able to create multiple stories within the movie, whether it be Viktor's struggle to get to America, learn english, or fall in love, and blend them together to make a masterpiece for the audience to feel very emotional for.

Amelia Warren

If you look at my last post, I reviewed Angels and Demons starring Tom Hanks. Well he just happened to be in this movie as well. But instead of genius professor who saves a city, he plays a foreign middle aged mad with broken english hardly knowing anything about the U.S. Like I said before, Tom Hanks can play a serious role very well when he needs to be which is very appropriate for this movie. However as a comedy piece too, he needed to show his ability to make the audience laugh as well, and the thing is he did. Hanks was, in my opinion, phenomenal in this movie because he manages to make the audience laugh and weep even while faking an impressive Eastern European accent. This isn't the first time he has done this either. In Forest Gump, he showed exceptional acting with his southern accent and also in Catch Me If You Can with his Boston accent and still demonstrate his comedic and serious acting skills in both movies. The other star featured in this film is Katherine Zeta-Jones (The Mask of Zorro) who plays Amelia Warren, the flirtatious round-the-clock stewardess who spends almost just as much time in the airport as Viktor who she also begins a growing relationship with. Now I've only seen a couple of her films like Chicago and Ocean's Twelve, but even in comparison with those movies, her acting is pretty predictable. She manages to be in a role where her character always has to be the sexy type and the bad girl in a kind of way. She still does a good job playing her part in The Terminal being able to act very seriously and romantically, but her acting is definitely limited nonetheless especially for her potential.

Viktor's friends

Now the cinematic elements were obviously very crucial for this film. You can tell that Spielberg made sure that every angle, shot, and use of lighting was appropriate for specific scenes. Unlike the past films I reviewed, this films is very family friendly and isn't dark at all. The whole setting of the movie was a well-lit airport terminal so the overall lighting of the film was happily bright and crystal clear. This was obviously used to show very simple comedic and plot developing scenes in an easy way. The only rare dim or dark shots were scenes where the mood was very toned down and serious and required the audiences' immediate attention to the dialogue and character expression. The camera angles used ranged from extreme long shots of the airport to close up shots of characters. It was pretty basic still camera work with no necessity of exaggerated movement.

A very memorable moment of the movie was the date scene. In the movie, Viktor and Amelia have gotten to know each other long enough for Viktor to ask her out to dinner. However due to the circumstances of his situation, he has no choice but to take her to out to eat only in the airport itself. So, he and his friends cleverly set up a romantic and beautiful dinner table on the balcony over looking the runways where he and Amelia can formerly enjoy a date. Throughout their little date, Navorski is trying his hardest to impress Amelia and Amelia is trying her hardest to keep her focus away from work (hence the constant beeping from her pager) all the while Viktor's friends that he met in the airport service them to help Viktor. This scene is a very important scene both for the story and the message. Within the dialogue exchange, Amelia tries to have an interesting conversation with Navorski about history but is frustrated when she is interrupted by her work which makes her give up on the date after her confession about her life slipping by and how she's "waiting" for the right moment to change it. Aside from the humorous entertainer in the background for comedic relief, this scene mainly focuses on the character development of Amelia and explains her life which, in turn, also foreshadows the main message of the movie. It helps us as the audience understand her situation more and her connection with the main character, Viktor. The scene essentially only uses 3 simple shots between close ups of Viktor, Amelia, and a long shot of the dinner table to make the audience pay more attention to their dialogue. The music in the background is also very mellow, quiet, and sad to set an emotional mood. The editors did a very good job but most of the credibility behind this scene is definitely the writing.

The video below shows the scene but for some reason cuts off Amelia's story explanation, and Viktor's confession. So if you want to know what happens with them, just watch the movie. It's good, trust me.

The Terminal is definitely one the most underrated movies for both Spielberg and Hanks. I really enjoyed this movie and the more I watched it, the more I really began to understand it and appreciate the whole structure of the film. The movie was both cleverly and beautifully made which makes the film very touching for anyone who watches it. It was also able to use multiple layers of stories differing in styles and mood to create a movie that people can laugh and cry at. The only issues I had, if there really were any, were that some of the scenarios and scenes in this film are not very realistic at all making some parts of the plot questionable. But overall, I don't really have many bad things to say about this film. It's a very well-written and well-made piece of film and I could confidently give it a 9/10.