The Terminal (2004)

I liked The Terminal. I liked all of the people and all of the situations.

Most people who saw this liked the minor characters especially Gupta who took particular delight in watching people slide on his wet floor.

That was fine, but not to be difficult I liked the courtship between the very shy but proper food delivery person and the immigration official better. Navorski was kind gentle and wise as acting as their Cyrano. He neither fell in love with nor did he take advantage of her.

The Terminal is a romance in the tradition of (say) Picnic. As a teenage, I watched with envy as William Holden easily courted a beautiful, vulnerable younger Kim Novac. What did it matter that he was old enough to be her father? The girls in movie houses still drooled over him and wished they were her.

So with this. Most male reviewers take exception to Zeta Jones in The Terminal. Much more sophisticated these days. Pity. She was actually quite good. She was like the little Mermaid: much of what she conveyed could not be done with her voice. The same thing with the Zeta Jones character: everything she said had to be done with her eyes and tears. She knows Navorski's value. She knows his character and how good he is. She wants him and is certain he wants and deserves her, but she knows that sooner or later she will betray him and that would devastate him. She knows herself so well that she feels unworthy of him. She cannot betray such a good and honorable man. What then does that make her? Is she any less honorable and worthy? Should she be any less desirable for the boys than William Holden for the girls?

This film is not Schindler's List. But it's not Beach Blanket Bingo either. It is a wonderful character study well worth seeing.

Fmovies: The movie deals about Viktor(Tom Hanks) is an Eastern European traveller converts a resident of N.Y. airport terminal when occurs a coup state in his country.The war breaks out and is denied entrance to the United States .The Security chief(Stanley Tucci) says him that he has to remain the terminal until his situation can be modified.Meanwhile he has many trouble,he doesn't speak the language so nobody can talk to him .But he makes friends and falls in love with an alluring flight attendant(Catherine Zeta Jones).

The picture blends comedy,love story ,a little bit of drama with a lots of fun.It's an entertained film with exceptional and sensible interpretation by Tom Hanks.He makes a magnificent acting as the essentially decent foreign who finding isolated early makes friends.They are a quirky and misfits group magnificently played by Chi McBride,Barry Shabaka and Diego Luna who's deeply enamored of Zoe Saldana.In the film appear the ordinaries Spielberg's technicians as the sensational cinematographer Januz Kaminski,film edition by Michael Kahn and of course the prolific John Williams who makes a lively and jolly music and those years made four excellent scores(Memoirs of Geisha,Starwars,War of the worlds and Munich).Besides an elaborately recreated production design by Alex McDowell reflecting an entirely convincing terminal built for the film.Stunningly direction by Steven Spielberg making an extraordinary camera movement filming small details in close-up as general shots when Hanks to be in the limelight until moves to be in the background . The flick will like to Tom Hanks and Spielberg fans. Rating : Above average .Two thumbs up.

Yeah, it might be unrealistic and cheesy at times but it's still a great movie and pleasant to watch. It's heartwarming and has humanity to it along with cute comedic moments. Tom Hanks Russian accent seems forced in the beginning but I quickly got use to it and seemed natural afterwards. Tom plays a very naive and yet kind hearted guy name Viktor Navorski who can't leave the airport terminal because of certain circumstances. And Stanli Tucci put on a believable performance and fit the mood of this movie well. He plays a Frank Dixon who is the head of security at the airport this movie takes place. And is the one that gives Navorski the most difficult time but without him there wouldn't be this story. The comedic moments in this movie really works and is a film the whole family can enjoy. The different scenarios come together in a delightful manner and that is what this film is, it's delightful and entertaining. So parts just seem way too far-fetched and underdeveloped. But that is passable because this isn't suppose to be a really realistic film. In fact it sorted reminded me of "Forrest Gump" except it takes place in a terminal. Overall this is a movie that adults and kids can enjoy.

8.5/10

The Terminal fmovies. …'The Terminal' is the latest Hanks/Spielberg collaboration, and though it's not quite as good as 'Catch Me if You Can' or 'Saving Private Ryan' it still makes for a fun watch. The plot, as everyone already knows, is about Krakozhian (sp?) immigrant Victor Narvorski (Tom Hanks) whose home country – the fictional land of Krakozhia (think Russia or Czechoslovakia) – is torn apart in war while he is in a plane headed for New York. When he lands JFK airport head Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci) tells him that since he literally doesn't have a country he must stay in the airport terminal until all the hoopla settles. Dixon thinks that Narvorski will ignore him, escape into New York and 'become someone else's problem'. What Dixon doesn't know is that Victor is an honest man, and he will obey the rules and stay in the terminal until he's allowed to leave.

The character of Victor Narvorski is one of those classic movie characters who has no conceivable flaw (other than a minimal understanding of the world around him – and an accent) and dose everything he can to help everyone else. Similar characters that spring to mind are Peter Sellers' Chauncey Gardner from the 1979 satire 'Being There' and John Goodman's Charlie Meadows from the Coen movie 'Barton Fink'. All of these characters are dim-witted, but great people who put their own lives on hold to help their friends.

Some of these friends include Airport worker Enrique Cruz (Diego Luna), who Victor helps get hitched with a beautiful security guard (Zoë Saldana) and Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones) a nice, flighty flight attendant who Narvorski inspires to get out of a troubled relationship with a married man.

The Hanks and Zeta-Jones characters strike up a little romance, but luckily its not too overblown, it's more of a subplot than anything.

It takes sometime but soon Narvorski is accepted into a small group of Airport workers including Cruz, kindly Joe Mulroy (Chi McBride) and janitor Gupta Raja (Kumar Pallana), who at first thinks that Narvorski is a federal agent out to get him. These characters are all well written and even better acted, but I thought they could've been awarded with a little more screen time. After all, the three are very good actors. But I guess Luna is still riding off the success of 'Y U Mama Tambien' and McBride, despite the fact that he's been working for many years, is still trying to find a big role that's right for him (which I doubt he'll get from 'I, Robot').

It's Pallana who has the biggest role here, and man, does he deserve it. Very old, and very foreign, he was brought to surprising cult fame when Wes Anderson gave him the role of 'Pagoda' in the 2001 hit 'The Royal Tenenbaums'. Who doesn't remember the short, quiet, hilarious butler of the Tenenbaum family? His role in this is a great follow-up; he is funny, and surprisingly touching and dramatic in a very tense scene near the end that I wont spoil. In any other movie the role of the Indian janitor would be an easy target, but this character isn't funny because he's Indian, but instead funny because he's clever, a little cynical and wily. He stole every scene he's in from under Tom Hanks, or Zeta-Jones, or whoever. This is a long shot, but I think the man deserves an Oscar nomination.

The acting in this movie is the greatest factor – well, that and the huge Terminal set built only for the movie. S

Although I should not have been surprised, Spielberg and Hanks, had greatness written all over it. But I got suckered into a lot of the bad press around the film and suppose I judged it before I had watched it. Anyway, I have now watched it and I liked it.

I thought the first half of the film was absolutely fantastic, the humor, the acting, the character development - they were all good. I thought the second half of the film suffered a little from becoming a bit over emotional, the love story seemed out of sorts and the way the entire airport staff seemed to know every thing about everyone else was a bit far fetched, I worked in an airport for many years and knew virtually no-one from outside the people I worked with on a daily basis, but maybe that's just me! But I forgave the film these slight nuances and allowed myself to enjoy it. I don't think Hanks or Spielberg will win any more Oscars, but it was a very enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday night!!

I have to say it is a great one that first shows the meaning and beauty in our life about waiting and promise. Amelia is waiting for her dream to come true for eighteen years, for herself; Navorski's dad was waiting for something he honored so much for his life; and here comes Navorski, who waits for making his father's left dream come true, for fulfilling his promise, for the woman he fell in love, in a "crack" between the US and his own country.

He has done everything for others around him. If there is a great example of "egoless", he is one. Letting go ego, is the greatness that even Amelia found out when she gives up and scarifies something most important in her life to help Navorski.

This simple story conveys some wonderful philosophy for people living in this country busy around everyday for business, families, and so on, to slow down and reflect on something. As the retired officer said to officer Dixon, there is something we can learn from Navorski.