The Terminal
Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) had a simple task to undertake. It would probably take a day to do and the implications of which would last for the rest of his life. If only he could get into the country. His home country became unrecognized by the United States due to a civil war that broke out while Viktor was en route to New York City. As a result, his passport and visa are unusable to enter but with a war going on, he can’t go back either. Viktor now is in limbo. His situation falls into the hands of Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci), head of security at JFK and hoping to rise on the hierarchy at Homeland Security. But what was once a minor incident becomes a major nuisance as Viktor makes his home in the terminal, waiting it out until either country can get its act together. But during his stay, he becomes a bit more American, befriending the workers of the airport and falling for the flight attendant with the complicated love life, Amelia, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones.

A lot of “The Terminal” was difficult to swallow at first glance. Why wasn’t Dixon more forceful in getting Viktor out? How about Viktor? Why was Viktor’s task so ridiculous? Could Amelia be that dumb? How did everything Viktor do turn out to be so right? Once the initial disbelief passes, you have a piece of work that could pass itself off as a decent comedy, but lacks any real drama, and barely has any romanticism. There was a definite lack of chemistry between Hanks and Zeta-Jones. Maybe it was the accent, which Hanks laid pretty thick. At times, I think we needed subtitles to understand his broken English. The fish-out-of-water material Viktor does to acclimate himself to a new culture is quite humorous, especially the initial weeks in which he needs to get money to eat, but otherwise, the other half of the film is dead on arrival. 2 stars