7.4/10
227,294
477 user 413 critic

Sully (2016)

Trailer
2:52 | Trailer
The story of Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks), an American pilot who became a hero after landing his damaged plane on the Hudson River in order to save the flight's passengers and crew.

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers:

Todd Komarnicki, Chesley Sullenberger (based on the book "Highest Duty" by) (as Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger) | 1 more credit »
Reviews
Popularity
1,275 ( 201)
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 14 wins & 34 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Hanks ... Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger
Aaron Eckhart ... Jeff Skiles
Valerie Mahaffey ... Diane Higgins
Delphi Harrington ... Lucille Palmer
Mike O'Malley ... Charles Porter
Jamey Sheridan ... Ben Edwards
Anna Gunn ... Elizabeth Davis
Holt McCallany ... Mike Cleary
Ahmed Lucan ... Egyptian Driver
Laura Linney ... Lorrie Sullenberger
Laura Lundy ... Reporter #1 (as Laura Lundy Wheale)
Onira Tares Onira Tares ... Reporter #2 (as Onira Tarés)
Gary Weeks ... Reporter #3
Katie Couric ... Katie Couric
Jeff Kober ... LT Cook
Learn more

More Like This 

Certificate: 14A Biography | Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.

Director: Paul Greengrass
Stars: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman
Cast Away (2000)
Certificate: PG Adventure | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A FedEx executive undergoes a physical and emotional transformation after crash landing on a deserted island.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Paul Sanchez
The Terminal (2004)
Certificate: PG Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

An Eastern European tourist unexpectedly finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chi McBride
Certificate: PG Drama | History | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda
Certificate: 14A Action | Biography | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

Navy S.E.A.L. sniper Chris Kyle's pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend. Back home with his family after four tours of duty, however, Chris finds that it is the war he can't leave behind.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner
Inferno I (2016)
Certificate: 14A Action | Adventure | Crime
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

When Robert Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Dr. Sienna Brooks, and together they must race across Europe against the clock to foil a deadly global plot.

Director: Ron Howard
Stars: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Irrfan Khan
Certificate: 14A Action | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon works with a nuclear physicist to solve a murder and prevent a terrorist act against the Vatican during one of the significant events within the church.

Director: Ron Howard
Stars: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer
Flight I (2012)
Certificate: 18A Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

An airline pilot saves almost all his passengers on his malfunctioning airliner which eventually crashed, but an investigation into the accident reveals something troubling.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Denzel Washington, Nadine Velazquez, Don Cheadle
Certificate: 14A Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

A murder inside the Louvre, and clues in Da Vinci paintings, lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years, which could shake the foundations of Christianity.

Director: Ron Howard
Stars: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Jean Reno
Apollo 13 I (1995)
Certificate: PG Adventure | Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.

Director: Ron Howard
Stars: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon
Big (1988)
Certificate: PG Comedy | Drama | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

After wishing to be made big, a teenage boy wakes the next morning to find himself mysteriously in the body of an adult.

Director: Penny Marshall
Stars: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia
The Post (2017)
Certificate: PG Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson
Edit

Storyline

On Thursday, January 15, 2009, the world witnessed the "Miracle on the Hudson" when pilot Chesley"Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) glided his disabled plane onto the frigid waters of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all one hundred fifty-five aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and his career. Written by Warner Bros.

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

The untold story behind the miracle on the Hudson

Genres:

Biography | Drama

Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

The actual Airbus A320 involved in the incident was recovered from the Hudson and placed on display at the Carolina's Aviation Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte was the original destination for this flight. Footage shown during the credits, with the actual passengers and crew, was shot at the museum. See more »

Goofs

When the plane is shown at the gate at La Guardia before push back the gate numbers shown in the aerial shot, the view through the cockpit window and mentioned by ATC are all different. See more »

Quotes

Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger: It's not a crash, it was a forced water landing.
Charles Porter: Simulation showed that you could make it back to the airport.
Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger: Impossible. I felt it go.
See more »

Crazy Credits

Photos of the real plane and rescue are shown during the credits. They are followed by a brief video with real people from that day including the passengers and Captain Sullenburger. See more »

Alternate Versions

The film's IMAX release presented the film open-matte, at an aspect ratio of 1.90:1, meaning there was more picture information visible in the top and bottom of the frame than in normal theaters and on home video. See more »


Soundtracks

Flying Home (Theme from 'Sully')
Written by Clint Eastwood, Tierney Sutton, and J.B. Eckl
Performed by Tierney Sutton Band (as The Tierney Sutton Band)
See more »

User Reviews

 
an absorbing showcase of a man's extraordinary professionalism in the face of danger
12 September 2016 | by ctowyiSee all my reviews

Running at a lean and spry 96min, Clint Eastwood's Sully isn't so much a clinical bio-pic in the traditional sense, but an absorbing showcase of a man's extraordinary professionalism in the face of danger.

On Thursday, January 15th, 2009, the world witnessed the "Miracle on the Hudson" when Captain Chesley Sullenburger (Tom Hanks) glided his disabled plane onto the frigid waters of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and his career.

Tom Hanks underplays Sullenburger but in so doing he brings out the multi-layered human qualities in the man. This is about a man who has 42 years of flying experience and he knows the aircraft like it is the back of his hand. Here is a man who does his job to the best of his abilities and he does it well. He will tell you he is not a hero but simply a man who is just doing his job. From a man with no time he becomes the man of all time. However, he is shaken to his very core when the doubts start to set in as the NTSB rips apart his heroic maneuver. Is Sullenburger a hero or a fraud?

The story rests on Tom Hank's abled shoulders who has built a reputation playing understated and reluctant heroes in Bridge of Spies and Captain Phillips. On first look Hank didn't seem to put on his acting hat, but after a night of rumination his character continues to stay with me. His sullenly insular and taciturn manner displays a fully functioning problem-solver's mind, calculating the probability of survival in that instance when the birds hit the plane engines. Thank goodness he trusts his instincts rather than the computer.

Hank isn't the only star in the story. At 86, Eastwood has meticulously crafted an honest story we thought we already knew into a tense drama with little bell and whistle. His unfazed skill in storytelling is assured and Sully definitely belongs to the top tier of his pantheon of good movies that include Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. In Eastwood's hands, the film flies above the usual biopic tropes and it feels like a homage to a modest man who rose to an extraordinary occasion and a salute to professionalism. It is a wonder the story doesn't carry an ounce of jingoism and it is a superb amalgam of the loud and the silence and the human elements of a near air disaster.

The final star is definitely the plane crash. For a home-theatre enthusiast, the visuals and sonics are a feast for the senses. We get to see the crash and its aftermath from every physical and emotional angle. I can't remember the last time I see a reenactment of a plane crash so visceral and real. This is the closest you will get to experience one without actually being in one.

I didn't care much for Eastwood's last directorial effort American Sniper because it carried too many skull-numbing and blatant embellishments, but with Sully he has redeemed himself. This may feel like a straight-forward story but the use of Rashomon-resque plot manipulation transcends the film above the usual biopics that you would forget after a night's sleep. I didn't forget this one today.


64 of 89 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you? | Report this
Review this title | See all 477 user reviews »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
Edit

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 September 2016 (Canada) See more »

Also Known As:

Sully See more »

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA See more »

Edit

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$35,028,301, 11 September 2016

Gross USA:

$125,070,033

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$240,797,623
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

Show more on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1
See full technical specs »

Contribute to This Page



Recently Viewed