Rent Sully (2016)

Tom loses some flab. - Sully review by NC

Maybe a bit stylised? Not sure Sully was given such a grilling as they make out. Makes the aero authorities look like idiots, with a personal vendetta against Sully.

Any event such as the downing of 155 folks on a plane would be taken very seriously by the aero industry, as would a policeman firing a gun, or crashing a car into somebody.......well in England anyway..........

Film industry always portrays highly professional people as a bit wobbly, if not unstable. Talk to a pilot, or a member of the SAS etc. They are calm and controlled under pressure, that is a natural selected talent, plus rigorous training and application.

They have to create a film from a few minutes frantic flying. They managed to eke it out. Tom does well....not as well as Captain Phillips..........but quite a few Hollywood flights of licence to try and make it epic.........no pun intended...................

Remarkable performance by both character and actor. - Sully review by JG

This is a docu-drama of a real event that stunned me at the time, the Hudson river ditching. I have always had an interest in aviation and have followed enough stories to know that planes coming down in water is not normally a good ending. When the pilot pulled off a feat that had not been successfully done before, without loss of life, he went into the record books and it is right that this should have been made into a film.

Eastwood and Hanks, particularly Tom Hanks, have done a good job. We get a snapshot of the character of Sully Sullenberger and how he became what he was, so that he was the right man in the right place when this happened. What is not so good is the portrayal of the Air Accident Inquiry. I am sure there was pressure on them from the airline and aircraft manufacturers to find "pilot error" as he cause, but Air Accident investigators are professionals and although they would have pursued this line of inquiry, they would not have done it in the adversarial and dishonest way portrayed in the film. Perhaps this was done to make the film appeal more at the box office. The actual events were amazing enough, they didn't need tarting up. Nevertheless the film was otherwise faithful to the real events, (I watched a BBC documentary shortly after the event). There were three items that didn't come fully out, they were covered but could be missed if you were not aware.

The first was that he started the auxiliary engine very early, before normal in the check list. This restored power as there is limited life in the batteries and gave a little bit of forward thrust, not enough to fly and completely offset the drag, but enough to give a few more seconds of precious time.

The second is that there were stop cocks that should have been closed prior to ditching but this was not done, so they plane sank before it should have. The reason was that the instruction to do this was at the end of the check list and due to their low altitude they did not have time to get that far. The check list they had was not adequate for the job they had to do. This is the responsibility of the aircraft manufacturers. Hopefully this has now been addressed, that is why we have Air Accident Inquiries.

The third thing, shown in the film but not commented on, was the nose-up attitude he used when ditching. Planes always descend nose up to maintain lift but it is normal to return to horizontal at touchdown so that the plane can run along the runway. Water is different, as soon as any part of the plane touches the water it experiences a sudden stopping force on the lower side. Due to the momentum of the heavy plane, the upper part wants to continue and a turning moment is applied that flips the plane over with disastrous consequences. He came down into the water nose up so that the plane surfed like a boat. He was not taught to do this, he just did it from his experience. This last item is the most important as it shows that his habit, of anticipation of what could go wrong and how to prepare for it, is what lead the outcome. A real hero.

The film is worth watching, is as good as any other good drama, and not a boring documentary. I would happily watch it again.

It would have been better if it was more accurate... - Sully review by CP Customer

It's a good film - except rather inaccurate on key details like how Sully was treated by the NTSB. It would have made a good story if told accurately (read Sully's book!) so disappointing the film-makers felt a need to make up opposition and conflict.