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Reel To Reel:
The Terminal

How It Rates: ***
Starring: Tom Hanks, Stanley Tucci, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Rated: R
Red Flags: Mild profanity

Preconceived Notions: Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, together again. Sounds good.
The Bottom Line: The premise is a little far-fetched, but it's ultimately heartwarming.

[Special Note: This is not the original review. It got accidentally trashed while I was updating this blog and I could not recover it. However, the sentiments and the star rating are the same in this shorter, re-created version I have submitted below.]

The Terminal is that stray puppy you take in. It chews your furniture. It scratches your walls. But you love it anyway, and you keep it.

That's the way I felt about this film, which re-teams Hanks with director Steven Spielberg. Although it's based on a true story of a man who ended up stranded at a Paris airport, the concept itself is a stretch. Yet it redeems itself with plenty of heart from Hanks.

Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, a man from a non-existant eastern European nation -- not just in real life, but in the film's life as well. His country is in a coup, meaning his visa is not recognized by the U.S. So he is confined to New York City's JFK airport until the whole mess can be straightened out. Viktor comes up with creative ways of getting through the days -- building cracker sandwiches, collecting carts to get money, and even landing a job with a renovation crew.

Frank Dixon (Tucci) is in charge of security. He's trying to help Viktor, but he's thinking more about his career. A promotion is in his future if he can show he's doing his job to the letter. And ice water seems to be running through his veins. He enjoys screwing with one of Navorski's early money-making schemes and offers anything but gratitude after summoning Navorski's help with a Russian-speaking man who's out of control upon being caught with drugs for his sick father. And yet he tries to offer Navorski more than one chance at a way out that's not exactly by the book.

Navorski wins allies among a baggage handler who organizes poker games for unclaimed merchandise, a food-service worker who uses Navorski as a middleman to win the love of an immigration official, and a janitor with a mean streak. The foreigner also has a girlfriend (Zeta-Jones), who has enough troubles with men to warrant a picture of her own. Dixon, we should mention, tries meddling in there, too.

Through all of this, Hanks saves the picture with his strength as a character actor, playing his role with innocence and warmth. Viktor is a immensely likable character, a la Forrest Gump. But while Gump had a fairytale charm to it, The Terminal dampens its charm with improbability, including the very reason why Hanks has come to New York with a can of peanuts in his hand. Some of you will find his motivations charming and heartfelt, and some of you will find it just, well, nuts.

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