Tom Hanks stars in this weightlessly bittersweet Steven Spielberg bonbon about an East European tourist left in travel-visa limbo at JFK airport when his country undergoes a coup and suspends all its passports. The fairly clever subject matter is shortchanged by over-simplicity, and before long The Terminal begins to feel like the first few installments of a gimmicky sitcom about a guy forced to live in an airport. To wit: in one episode he helps a baggage cart guy (Diego Luna) woo a pretty immigration clerk (Zoe Saldana). In another he gets an under-the-table job working construction at the international terminal expansion. There's also the reoccurring character of the pretty, romantically mixed-up flight attendant (Catherine Zeta-Jones) whom he awkwardly courts. And the common thread of the "series" is a semi-villainous airport Homeland Security chief (Stanley Tucci), who seems hell-bent, for no apparent reason, on not letting Hanks get the proper paperwork to leave the airport. Each over-scripted episode has smile-inducing or effectively tender moments, and Hanks wears both his character's initial naiveté and his emerging savvy endearingly well. But Spielberg tries way too hard to conjure up the Magic (with a capital "M") with unsophisticated plot devices here (although--one saving grace--Zeta-Jones makes a superb Midwestern Everygal as the insecure stewardess). Not a necessary purchase. (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—May 6, 2014—Paramount, 129 min., PG-13, $24.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2004's The Terminal features a great transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include “Boarding: The People of The Terminal” character featurettes (33 min.), a “making-of” featurette (17 min.), the behind-the-scenes featurettes “Waiting for the Flight: Building the Terminal” (13 min.), “Booking the Flight: The Script, the Story” (8 min.), “In Flight Service” on the music (6 min.), and “Landing: Airport Stories” with the cast (6 min.), as well as a photo gallery, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid Blu-ray debut for this lesser Spielberg film.]
The Terminal
DreamWorks, 121 min., PG-13, VHS: $22.99, DVD: $29.99, Nov. 23 Volume 19, Issue 6
The Terminal
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