“Sully” tells the miraculous story of how pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger landed a plane on the Hudson River. The only problem is, how do you make an entire film about this 208 second event? In the case of this Clint Eastwood biopic, you add pointless flashbacks, unnecessary conflicts and achingly boring subplots.

The story of “Sully” has a nonlinear structure, and begins after the actual crash into the Hudson. Although seen as a hero by most, the government believes that captain Sullenberger could have safely landed back at the airport, and Sully is under investigation for the endangerment of the lives on the plane. Sully is also struggling to grapple with the event himself and is experiencing severe anxiety following the crash.

The film then depicts the crash itself, and shot entirely in IMAX, the crash scene is pretty intense and has good effects, but at the same time is disappointing. There is a noticeable lack of music, and the scene doesn’t really evoke any emotion. It seems too casual and while shot well, this same scene is shown three different times, from different angles and vantage points, but it feels very redundant by the end of the film.

The movie unnecessarily flashes back multiple times and these scenes don’t really drive the story or the characters at all. The timeline seems jumbled and the pacing is consistently off throughout the film.

Tom Hanks is great in the movie as he usually is, and there is a lot of good humor throughout the movie. The crash scene was filmed well, and the movie goes through the various stories of some of the passengers, which are pretty compelling.

All in all though, the movie doesn’t have a very smooth flow, and it feels like they were just adding in random awkward scenes, unrealistic dialogue, unneeded conflicts and redundant scenes, all capped off with an ending that is honestly laughable. “Sully” is a movie that somehow was 96 minutes long, should have been 60 minutes long, and felt like 150 minutes long.

Runtime: 96 minutes

Rated: PG-13

Rating: 1.5 stars out of 4