Chesley Burnett Sullenberger fondly called as Sully was hailed as America’s hero when he successfully executed an emergency landing on River Hudson in Manhattan on the 15th of January 2009. This incident has been called as the “miracle on the Hudson”.

Veteran filmmaker and actor Clint Eastwood teams up with Tom Hanks to record this heroic incident in an engaging and untempered manner. With two most prolific artists involved, we can be assured that the biopic is in safe hands. Now let us see to what extent they have impressed us.

Sully is a biography about a heroic captain who skillfully deposited his damaged Airbus A320 on the water, saving the lives of 155 passengers and also his fellow crew members. A flight takes off. Soon after a bird hit, it loses both its engines and the captain is left with no option but to land it on the river. Can this incident be stretched into a 90 minute play?

No, Sully has more to it.

Though the public has accepted Sully as an overnight hero, the transportation safety board considers his act as premature as they claim there was a chance that he could have successfully landed the plane in one of the 2 air stations close to Hudson. Moreover, they claim that one of the engines was still in idle working condition. Sully comes under intense scrutiny by the NTBS on one side but has been celebrated as a nation’s hero on the other.

Sully played by Tom Hanks is a very calm and composed captain who doesn’t even like people calling him as a hero. He feels he has done his duty and nothing more. At the same time, he doesn’t like people questioning his act of landing in the water. Tom Hanks has beautifully portrayed the emotions of a pilot during such unexpected situation. The character goes through a constant dilemma if he has really made a hasty decision of landing the plane in the river. Scenes involving such emotional situations are captured brilliantly.

On the flip side, few scenes look over exaggerated. The media are shown talking nothing but Sully for days, and wherever the captain goes, they seem to talk only about his heroic act. Though these scenes are helpful for the theatricals, one feels they are a little overused. Some kind of balancing could have made it a complete classic, especially during the climax scene where the investigation officials have no clue and look so unprepared when Sully keeps scoring all the way.

Technically too the film scores big time, be it the music or the visuals, they go hand in hand with the script. The most raved flight crash landing in the river is fascinating to watch. The scene has been repeated a few times all from a different perspective and all equally exciting to watch.