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

Selected as the opening film of the 2004 Venice Film Festival.

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Goofs

The departure board indicates that Viktor's flight is bound for "Krakhosia," yet this board is supposed to show cities not countries. However, it's possible that the capital of fictitious Krakhosia is also named Krakhosia, just as the capitals of Mexico, Panama, Oklahoma and (formerly) Belize (whose capital is now relocated to Belmopan) share the country's/state's name, or that Krakhosia is a single-city nation like Singapore or San Marino. Either way, this is not necessarily a goof.

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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

SPOILER: In the closing credits, the names of the production staff and prominent cast are the person's actual signature, rather than the standard block print used in the remainder of the credits. This follows with the secondary plot of Victor trying to get the last signature for the memory of his deceased father.

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Connections

References Star Trek: Voyager (1995)

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Soundtracks

"Killer Joe"
Written & Performed by Benny Golson

User Reviews

Hanks and Spielberg do it again-another winner!

I've seen some really good movies in 2004 but so far, this maybe the best. The Terminal is an incredible fairy tale of a movie-it's quietly captivating, rich in interesting colorful characters and superbly acted and directed.

Tom Hanks as Victor Navorsky is quite simply entrancing to watch. He is an amazing character actor and in The Terminal he again creates a character who is instantly embraceable. You care about Victor and want things to turn out OK for him as much as his friends in the Terminal do.

This is a movie that actually got some bad reviews and I'm baffled by why. Although, I usually can see flaws in even the movies I think are 8's and 9's there isn't much to be critical of here. Some people have said it's to "feel good". That it's lacking in reality. I don't necessarily see those as negatives, there are many good movies that are feel good or unrealistic, just as there are some bad ones. The Terminal has a lot that's likable about it.

Firstly, there's Hanks himself and I will admit if any other actor had played Victor it might not be the movie it is, Hanks is simply amazing, you forget who he is within the first five minutes. I won't mention everyone by name, but the rich array of supporting actors/actresses were all good as well. It is an unusual movie that really isn't either a straight comedy OR a straight drama-it perhaps falls through the cracks of genres but I'd call this mostly a heartwarming and completely absorbing character study of one man's attempt to make a life for himself in an airport terminal. It's a very different type of movie-for all the strategically placed product adds, there's something quietly uncommercial about Terminal and watching it is an interesting experience.

The movie is about 2 hours and you get a lot in those two hours. For me what was striking was how genuinely interesting this movie turned out to be. I'm one who finds airport terminals fascinating anyway-all the hundreds of and thousands of people rushing about to hop on a plane and start some new adventure....but to actually live in a terminal-an interesting (and rather strange) concept-Hanks acting here is quiet and understated and at a level surpassing merely "talented". He manages to make nibbling a cracker fascinating. I would give this a 10 of 10 and know there are many who may think it's not for them but I found this movie to be a beautiful fairytale of a picture and hope at least Hanks gets an Oscar nod. I also hope that skeptics give this movie a chance-as good a movie as any Hanks film I've ever seen. 10 of 10.