The Terminal

Following up Catch Me If You Can, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks re-teamed with the charming fish out of water comedy The Terminal. With a unique premise and a diverse cast of characters, this made for an amusing, if at times sentimental, film. 

Viktor Navorski (played by Tom Hanks) is visiting America from the small Eastern European nation of Krakozhia. Unfortunately, when he lands he discovers that a Military Coup occurred in his home country and is no longer recognized as a nation by the United States Government. He is also unable to return to his home country under his current passport. Therefore, he must remain in the airport until the issues with his home country are resolved. Initially distraught at his predictament, Viktor begins to learn to adapt to his current situation. He finds a place to sleep in a section of the airport that is currently under construction, fashioning a bed out of a couple rows of seats. He figures out how to make enough money to eat, as his Krakozhia money is no longer any good. He starts learning English. And he starts making friends with some of the airport employees, including flight attendant Amelia Warren (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones), with whom a potential romance begins to blossom. Meanwhile, Frank Dixon (played by Stanley Tucci), is up for promotion to director of Customs for the airport and becomes increasingly obsessed with getting Navorski to leave the airport and in the process become someone else's problem.

When it came to producing The Terminal, there was one big problem in their way. No airport in the world was going to allow a big Hollywood film to film in their airport. So, they built their own. Since there was no sound stage big enough to build the massive set required, they, appropriately enough, constructed it within the confines of an old airplane hanger. It the process it became one of the biggest sets ever constructed for a film, filling the entire hanger with real, operational stores and restaurants just like one would find in an actual airport. Spielberg and Director of Photography Janusz Kaminski then proceeded to shoot it with some geuninely great cinematography that beautifully compliments the warm and funny story they're telling. 

Tom Hanks turns in a delightful performance as Viktor, adopting a flawless Eastern European accent (based on his father-in-law, who is from Bulgaria) and gives the character a nice sense of warmth and compassion. Viktor starts off the film very much lost and confused, only speaking broken English and frightened because he's trapped in a foreign country on his own and can't leave. As the film goes on, Viktor starts to adapt to his situation and starts making friends with people who work at the airport and throughout it Viktor starts to grow and become more comfortable and also open up. Catherine Zeta-Jones makes for an interesting romantic prospect for Viktor as the two bond over their repeated meetings as she flies in and out of the airport as a Flight Attendant. She sees the potential for a better match in Viktor than in some prior boyfriends she's had. Diego Luna gives a nice performance in the film as a food service worker in the airport, Enrique Cruz, who makes a deal with Viktor that Enrique will keep him fed if he will help Enrique find out more about a Customs officer he has a crush on, Dolores Torres (played by Zoe Saldana) that Viktor visits every day in hopes he'll get the okay to leave the airport. Zoe Saldana is equally charming in her role as well, as in addition to being a Customs officer, she's a huge Star Trek fan who regularly cosplays at conventions. Of course, this plot point is more amusing now as Saldana subsequent to being in this film was cast as Uhura in the recent Star Trek films. Kumar Pallana has an amusing supporting role as an airport custodian Gupta Rajan, who takes great delight in watching people ignore the wet floor signs he puts down when he mops and slip and slide on the wet floors. 

The Terminal is probably not one of Spielberg's best films, but it is one of his sweetest and most charming films he's made. It features a great performance from Tom Hanks and a diverse cast of colorful characters to surround him an a genuinely funny and heartwarming film. It's one that I certainly have a lot of affection for and enjoy revisiting from time to time.