The Terminal (2004)

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers (WGA):

Andrew Niccol (story) and
Sacha Gervasi (story) ...

Release Date:

18 June 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Comedy

Tagline:

Life is waiting.

Plot:

An eastern immigrant finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.

Plot Keywords:

Airport | Flight Attendant | Passport | New York City | Passenger

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Tom Hanks	...	Viktor Navorski
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Amelia Warren
Stanley Tucci	...	Frank Dixon
Chi McBride	...	Mulroy
Diego Luna	...	Enrique Cruz
Barry Shabaka Henley	...	Thurman
Kumar Pallana	...	Gupta Rajan
Zoe Saldana	...	Dolores Torres (as Zoë Saldana)
Eddie Jones	...	Salchak
Jude Ciccolella	...	Karl Iverson
Corey Reynolds	...	Waylin
Guillermo Díaz	...	Bobby Alima (as Guillermo Diaz)
Rini Bell	...	Nadia
Stephen Mendel	...	First Class Steward
Valeri Nikolayev	...	Milodragovich (as Valera Nikolaev)

Also Known As:

Terminal (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief language and drug references.

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Russian | Bulgarian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | France:U | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Spain:T | Iceland:L (original rating) | Iceland:LH (video rating) | Finland:K-3 | South Korea:All | Malaysia:U | India:U (cinema release) | Sweden:7 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Brazil:12 | Chile:TE | Germany:o.Al. | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:MG6 | Norway:A | Peru:PT | Philippines:G | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #40891)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

When "the war is over" and where Tom Hanks and other people sing the national anthem they sing The Albanian National Anthem in "gibberish" words.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Navorski first spends the night in the Terminal the planes outside make a lot of noise and scare him. However, after that moment the room suddenly seems soundproof. This is clear, for example, in the moment when Amelia confronts him, right before he shows her the fountain.

Quotes:

[first lines]
PA announcer: United airlines announcing the arrival of Flight 9435 from Beijing. Customer service representative please report to gate C42.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Take Off: Making 'The Terminal' (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Something in B-Flat

Waiting can be exciting… It can be also entertaining…

The film begins with a cool look (green and blue), because Spielberg doesn't think of Immigration as a warm place to be for the few minutes it takes to clear a passenger and get him on his way… So all the cool tones are evident until Viktor starts to settle into his new home… He is going to be stuck in New York's JFK airport for an unspecified amount of time… From this moment we see Viktor stuck, trapped, unable to enter United States and that's the fun of this film…

Tom Hanks is really so calm, so likable, so emotional, so funny and so real in what he does… Here, he's a very dignified person who is extremely trusting and always full of positive hope… You couldn't insult him if you try… It's very hard to hurt his feelings… He finds the bright side of every angle problem he faces and finds a way for him to live with the situation… He has the virtue of patience, and the testament to hard work, perseverance, and humility… He loves people, and he experiences the culture in an odd way…

Hanks plays a Krakozhian capable gentleman whose name is Viktor Navorski who finds himself without a passport and a visa once both are taken from him by the powers-that-be at the terminal, because his visa no longer counts, since his country is no longer in existence, and his passport is no longer valid…

Catherine Zeta-Jones brings vulnerability and insecurity to her unhappy character… She plays the gorgeous flight attendant Amalia Warren, a very sensible woman who's always looking for love, trying to find the person that will be her prince… She really wears her emotions on her sleeve and is lonely… She wants some strong relationship in her life… Viktor and Amelia have oceans of things in common and it ends up playing itself out and that's a nice thing to play…

The story leaves a lot for reflection, and in some ways, Viktor's stillness allows him to be a mirror for the people working in the airport to meditate on their own lives…

"The Terminal" is a charming film… It looks beautifully and elegantly, but realistically…