Year:
2004
Studio:
DreamWorks SKG
Feature:
3/5
[Warning: major
spoilers]
Tom Hanks has developed into a good actor. Once again he has the lead
in a dramatic role, playing Kharkosian native Viktor Navorski. Navorski
has just arrived in New York and is at customs when he is stopped and
taken to see Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci), head of airport security.
Apparently, Kharkosia is in the midst of a civil war and all Kharkosian
Visas have been revoked. Moreover, Kharkosia has closed its borders and
all flights to Kharkosia have been cancelled.
It's just this 20 minute section of the movie where they need to
explain why this man is going to be stuck in the International Lounge
of the airport. Dixon can't let Nvorski into New York and he can't send
him back to his country and of course the US would not send a foreign
national to an unrelated country without cause.
So Navorsky is stuck in the louge. He could leave but he is law abiding
and obeys Dixon's orders to stay in the lounge. Dixon on the other hand
would rather have this headache out of his domain and tries to get
Navorsky to leave, breaking the law but then he would be some other
department's problem. Navorsky has food vouchers but quickly loses
them. With only Kharkosian money he has to be creative to buy food (he
returns luggage carts for the deposit money) and has to find a place to
sleep (Gate 67, under construction).
Navorsky is quite bright. Though he speaks almost no English he learns
the language by studying two tour guides of New York, one in English
and an identical one in a language he knows. He is a very good
carpenter as he shows later in the movie when he gets a job in the
airport construction crew. And he is clever enough to realize that
Dixon is trying to bait him to do something wrong. It's one of the main
themes in the movie: a backwards ignorant foreigner is really more than
what people take him to be at first glance.
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Naturally,
Navorsky gets to know the various denizens of the airport: Enrique Cruz
(Diego Luna), who restocks the food vending machines; Gupta Rajan
(Kumar Pallana), the Indian janitor who fled his country after stabbing
a crooked policeman; Joe Mulroy (Chi McBride), baggage handler; Officer
Torres (Zoe Saldana), a Trekkie and the woman whom Cruz secretly loves.
Navorsky becomes part of their community and helps them and in turn
they help him live at the terminal.
And then we have Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones). A flight
attendant who keeps bumping into Navorski whenever she's at this
airport (Navorski is stuck there for nine months). Amelia is a romantic
who is in love with a married man. As she describes herself, she's the
kind of sick person that's rooting for the husband to reconcile with
his wife. They strike up a friendship and it really seems to be going
somewhere. But in the end Amelia realizes that she's not good for
Viktor and leaves him.
What I liked: Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones, the scene when Viktor
helps the Russian man trying to get medicine to his dying father (or
goat), the scene when Viktor explains to Amelia why he came to New
York, the whole romantic subplot.
What I didn't like: in the end Amelia and Viktor don't stay together --
it's supposed to be a non-predictable ending but there's a reason why
predictable endings are predictable, because they're naturally right.
In conclusion, I liked the movie. It's entertaining. Lots of laughter,
some touching scenes, good characters. I thought the ending was subpar
but not bad enough to sour the movie.
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