With a big assist from Hanks, Spielberg takes nothing and turns it into a charming something.
The Terminal (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:195
Fresh:118
Rotten:77
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: Tom Hanks and the rest of the amiable cast make this bumpy ride worth sitting through.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for brief language and drug references
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Jun 18, 2004 Wide
Box Office: $77,032,279
Synopsis: Academy Award® winners Tom Hanks ("Philadelphia," "Forrest Gump") and Catherine Zeta-Jones ("Chicago") star in "The Terminal," under the direction of Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Steven... Academy Award® winners Tom Hanks ("Philadelphia," "Forrest Gump") and Catherine Zeta-Jones ("Chicago") star in "The Terminal," under the direction of Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg ("Schindler’s List," "Saving Private Ryan"). "The Terminal" tells the story of Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), a visitor to New York from Eastern Europe, whose homeland erupts in a fiery coup while he is in the air en route to America. Stranded at Kennedy Airport with a passport from nowhere, he is unauthorized to actually enter the United States and must improvise his days and nights in the terminal’s international transit lounge until the war at home is over. As the weeks and months stretch on, Viktor finds the compressed universe of the terminal to be a richly complex world of absurdity, generosity, ambition, amusement, status, serendipity and even romance with a beautiful flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). But Viktor has long worn out his welcome with airport official Frank Dixon, who considers him a bureaucratic glitch, a problem he cannot control but wants desperately to erase. "The Terminal" also stars Emmy winner Stanley Tucci (TV’s "Winchell," "Road to Perdition") as Frank Dixon. Rounding out the main cast are Chi McBride (TV’s "Boston Public"), Diego Luna ("Y Tu Mama, Tambien"), Barry "Shabaka" Henley ("Ali"), Kumar Pallana ("The Royal Tenenbaums"), Zoë Saldana ("Drumline"), Eddie Jones ("Seabiscuit") and Jude Ciccolella ("Down With Love"). Walter F. Parkes ("Catch Me If You Can"), Steven Spielberg and Laurie MacDonald ("The Ring") are producing "The Terminal," with Patricia Whitcher, Jason Hoffs and Andrew Niccol serving as executive producers. The screenplay is by Sacha Gervasi and Jeff Nathanson from a story by Niccol. [More]
Starring: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride
Starring: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride, Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Barry Shabaka Henley
Director: Steven Spielberg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: Sacha Gervasi, Jeff Nathanson
Producer: Steven Spielberg, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald
Composer: John Williams
Studio: DreamWorks Distribution LLC
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Reviews for The Terminal
It seems he’s happy to continue viewing the world in black and white.
The film is so flaccid and pedestrian one can hardly believe it comes from the director whom a majority of Americans would presume is the best this country has.
Annoying out of the gates, then cute, at times Hollywood romantic, with Zeta-Jones acting as Meg Ryan. Product placement bogs.
It never gets any big laughs or major lumps in the throat, but it sparks throughout.
The subtle implications of Viktor Navorski's inimitable status are pregnant with charm.
'Spielberg logra una fantasía sentimental, romántica y sumamente divertida que deja una amplia sonrisa en la boca y la idea de que la vida puede ser mucho menos complicada.'
An enjoyable ensemble movie anchored by Hanks' incredible -- and incredibly generous -- performance.
Seeing The Terminal is like experiencing an uneventful flight: The trip was pleasant but not delightful, and you're happy to deplane at the other end.
Suggests that America remains the generous land of opportunity that immigrants have dreamed of for decades, despite terrorism and Homeland Security...
A fine, enjoyable, uplifting fantasy that's suitable for viewing by all members of the family.
Plays like the first few episodes of an expensive, gimmicky sitcom about a guy forced to live in an airport.
The Terminal is a movie that asks you to suspend yourself from belief for a couple of hours and head into kind of a movie schnookie woo-woo world...
A loungeful of comedic payloads and ironies but so stretched beyond capacity that the overbooking gave me an itch to take off on the next flight out.
As they land this fish-out-of-water story, Spielberg and Hanks have created a modern Catch-22 that moves you to laughter and then tugs your heart moments later.
Takes off in spectacular fashion, but too much narrative turbulence prevents its flights of fancy from ever achieving maximum altitude.
The Terminal is a light-hearted and thoroughly entertaining film about the joys that can be ours when we slow down, practice deep listening, and cultivate the art of patience.
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