The Terminal (2004)

An eastern immigrant finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

Andrew Niccol (story), Sacha Gervasi (story),

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci

3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Hanks	...	Viktor Navorski
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Amelia Warren
Stanley Tucci	...	Frank Dixon
Chi McBride	...	Mulroy
Diego Luna	...	Enrique Cruz
Barry Shabaka Henley	...	Thurman
Kumar Pallana	...	Gupta Rajan
Zoe Saldana	...	Dolores Torres (as Zoë Saldana)
Eddie Jones	...	Salchak
Jude Ciccolella	...	Karl Iverson
Corey Reynolds	...	Waylin
Guillermo Díaz	...	Bobby Alima (as Guillermo Diaz)
Honorine Bell	...	Nadia (as Rini Bell)
Stephen Mendel	...	First Class Steward
Valeriy Nikolaev	...	Milodragovich (as Valera Nikolaev)

Storyline

Viktor Navorski, a man from an Eastern European country arrives in New York. However after he left his country war broke out. Suddenly Navorski is a man without a country - or one that the U.S. cannot recognize, thus he is denied entrance to the U.S. However, he also can't be deported so he is told by the Security Manager that he has to remain in the airport until his status can be fixed. And also Navorski doesn't speak English very well, so he cannot talk to or understand anyone. But he somehow adapts and sets up residence in the airport, which makes the man who placed him there unhappy, as it seems he is in line for a promotion but Navroski's presence might complicate that. So he tries to get Navorski to leave but Navorski remains where he is. Navorski makes friends with some of the people who work in the airport and is attracted to a flight attendant he runs into whenever she comes in.

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Plot Keywords:

airport | flight attendant | passport | english | meal voucher | 

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Taglines:

Life is waiting.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief language and drug references

Details

Official Sites:

DreamWorks UIP [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Russian Bulgarian Spanish

Release Date:

18 June 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Terminal

Filming Locations:

Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,305,442 (Japan) (17 December 2004)

Gross:

$14,076,317 (Japan) (4 February 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks SKG, Amblin Entertainment, Parkes/MacDonald Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Each failed application for entry to the USA counts against your chances of eventually being allowed in, so Viktor was actually hurting his cause by applying every day.

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Goofs

Viktor says the jazz article is from a Hungarian magazine, but the words around the picture have Cyrillic letters.

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Quotes

[first lines]
PA announcer: United Airlines announcing the arrival of Flight 9435 from Beijing. Customer service representative, please report to gate C42.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are unususally short, with just the studio name and the name of the film.

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Connections

Referenced in 'War of the Worlds': Production Diaries, East Coast - Exile (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Theme from a Summer Place"
Written by Max Steiner
Performed by Starlite Orchestra
Courtesy of Countdown Media

User Reviews

Very good film

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.