Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy, Love, Drugs, Infidelity, Culture Clash
Plot: When his tiny country of Slovenia undergoes a coup, Viktor Navorski (played by Hanks) is indefinitely detained at JFK International Terminal in New York. Unable to leave the airport to enter the confines of the U.S. or go back home to a country that no longer exists, Viktor has fallen through a crack of an unforgiving bureaucracy. Despite Port Director Frank Mercer's efforts to make his exile as uncomfortable as possible, Viktor finds a surprisingly rich life within the confines of the terminal - including a sweet romance with beautiful but insecure flight attendant Amelia (the role Catherine Zeta-Jones is circling).Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) is a visitor to New York from Eastern Europe, whose homeland erupts in a fiery coup while he is in the air en route to America. Stranded at Kennedy Airport with a passport from nowhere, he is unauthorized to actually enter the United States and must improvise his days and nights in the terminal’s international transit lounge until the war at home is over. As the weeks and months stretch on, Viktor finds the compressed universe of the terminal to be a richly complex world of absurdity, generosity, ambition, amusement, status, serendipity and even romance with a beautiful flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). But Viktor has
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Related Movies:
- remake of Tombés du ciel (1993)
- version of Tombés du ciel (1993)
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Behind the Scenes:
Read more about the production
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 Discussion forum for this movie
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 Tom Hanks plays a sort of Esperanto Everyman stuck for months at JFK Airport in what is probably the worst-directed film Steven Spielberg has ever made.--Charles Taylor (Salon)
Spielberg keeps the film moving at a steady pace, avoids Hollywood clichés and allows events to unfold in a natural manner without making it seem forced. B--Gareth Von Kallenbach (Lee's Movie Info)
The Terminal is as pleasantly adrift as its hero, a modestly enjoyable sojourn that has no idea where it should be going. The man in the director's chair has taught us to expect better. C+--Rob Vaux (Flipsidemovies.com)
"The Terminal" is reliable, funny, adult-oriented entertainment, and a return to form for the world-class filmmaker. B+--Brian Orndorf (FilmJerk.com)
In spite of poor writing, and the awkward, forced relationship between Jones and Hanks, 'The Terminal' has a good heart, which makes it bearable. If you’re a Hanks fan, make it a matinee.  --Greg Ursic (Movie-Gurus.com)
...if you are waiting for something to inspire you, make you think, or even move you to tears, you may just have to wait a little longer.--Shari L. Rosenblum (CineScene)
Overall, the entire film is a wonderful comedy with plenty of great perfomances and a truely original story that is surprisingly unpredictable. Definately worth seeing. 9/10--Nate Anderson (Movie-Vault.com)
Despite the substantial flaws, The Terminal does still entertain enough to recommend. There's a little romance, a little comedy, a little drama, and a lot of geniality, such that, even if the film runs a bit long and doesn't really have much to say, it'sa pleasant experience to get your mind away from the doldrums of life for a while. --Vince Leo (Qwipster.net)
The film is very well made, and from Spielberg we’d expect nothing less. It unfortunately comes with all of his baggage and nothing groundbreaking to speak of. --Christopher Null (FilmCritic.com)
This is one idea they should have kept on standby.  --Blake Snyder (MovieWeb)
It's somewhat more flawed than you'd expect from Speilberg, mainly because of the script. But with Hanks magnificent performance and Spielberg at the helm, you'll get your money's worth.  --Brian Gallagher (MovieWeb)
The Terminal perpetuates Spielberg’s Life is Beautiful mantra, persisting on imparting to audiences an old adage: without darkness, there’s no light. In the most dire of circumstances (and airport terminals), there’s hope, if not stolen moments of comedyand happiness. All you have to do is look.  --J.P. Mangalindan (MovieWeb)
It may not measure up with any of Spielberg’s previous classics, but when all is said and done, moviegoers across the nation won’t be able to do much better than they will do, buying a ticket heading for The Terminal.  --Danny Baldwin (BucketReviews.com)
THE TERMINAL is the slickest sort of escapism, designed to amuse, slightly, but not challenge, and then send its viewers out into the world with the sense that they have seen something profound. For the audience that prefers its cinema replete with pat and predictable plotting, it is perfection itself.  --Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews)
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| Cast |
Tom Hanks
Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, The Green Mile |
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 | Stanley Tucci
Road to Perdition, Maid in Manhattan, America's Sweethearts |
 | Chi McBride
I, Robot, Gone in Sixty Seconds, The Frighteners |
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 | Zoe Saldana
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Crossroads, Drumline |
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| Music By |
John Williams
Saving Private Ryan, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Schindler's List |
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| Steven Spielberg's "The Terminal" takes you on such a funny, good-natured ride that you forgive its destination being so ordinary and disappointing. B+ --Eric D. Snider (EricDSnider.com)
"The Terminal" is an old-fashioned, corny but charming fable. --Kevin N. Laforest (Montreal Film Journal)
Fans of old fashioned filmmaking, in the grand tradition of Frank Capra and Billy Wilder, will find much to enjoy here. 76/100--Jamie Gillies (Apollo Guide)
This film is the very definition of "light" entertainment. It looks pretty, it feels pretty, it acts pretty and unless you're going to call it on a number of its far-fetched scenarios, you're likely to appreciate it as an "old school" comedic romance that will both frivolously delight and entertain you and yours for a couple of hours. 6/10--'JoBlo' (JoBlo.com)
It has big laughs, but it never seems to make an effort for them; it knows exactly, minutely and in every detail who its hero is and remains absolutely consistent to what he believes and how he behaves.  --Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)
The Terminal aims to be nothing more than a breezy entertainment, and it works just fine as that. --Lee Chase IV (CultureDose.net)
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