Movie Review: The Terminal(2004)

Stranded in an Airport Terminal...
The talented and amicable duo Spielberg and Hanks pair up a again time to present this heart-warming comedy. Hanks plays Victor Navorski a citizen from an unstable European country who is denied a visa to the United States upon arrival into the New York JFK airport. Determined to stay back, he decides to make the airport his make-do home. Catherine Zeta Jones plays his love interest with remarkable grace. I liked the way their story ends. However, the real reason Navorski wanted to stay in the US is revealed in the end and is an anticlimax and a letdown. The movie has all the usual clichés like the wicked American official trying to bring down Navorski and break his spirit. Then there are Navorski’s immigrant and minority friends who very predictably come to his aid, to bail him out, etc.

Nevertheless, Hanks is a genius in playing the hopeless romantic. He’s done it in several movies with different variations One scene in particular when Navorski and his friends plan a rendezvous with his love interest is memorable The airport is portrayed magnificently and looks like the JFK airport in 2020. This lighthearted movie is worth a watch despite its flaws. Your kids could like it too.