The fact that none of the 155 people on board died made it something else entirelya real-life miracle.

And thats exactly what the next days newspapers called it: The Miracle on the Hudson.

The heroic, steel-nerved pilot in the cockpit was Chesley Sully Sullenberger.

The dictionary definition of the friendly skies.

After all, the flight lasted all of 208 seconds.

And Sully didnt seem like a character with that much dramatic backstory to unpack.

Theres not enough narrative meat on the bone.

Which is to say, its the kind of vehicle that fits Hanks like a bespoke captains uniform.

Hanks, now 60, ages himself for the role with the kind of heaviness the unsung carry.

If Hanks seems perfectly cast, its equally hard to argue with Eastwood behind the camera either.

And I suspect it will again forSully.

Its a feel-good movie arriving at the height of our nations feel-bad times.

The film kicks off with a plane crash.

A plane crash that doesnt end as well as the one on January 15.

Its echoes of the horrors of 9/11 are a dicey gambit.

It announces that Eastwood wont be playing it safe.

But, of course, its a false alarm.

BecauseSully, if nothing else, is a movie that plays it safe.

That opening credit crash is a fake-out in more ways than one.

You get the sense that hes had this waking nightmare a million times before.

In his line of work, how could you not?

The lucky passengers who barely manage to make it onto the flight.The mother back in coach with a newborn.

The roll call ofAirportsoap opera bit players.

The back-and-forth between the cockpit and the control tower back at LaGuardia is rivetingly tense.

But, you check your watch and wonder, wheres the rest of the movie in all of this?

This isntFlight, after all.

ItsSully…starring Tom Hanks, for Petes sake!

Head down, stay down!

in high-pitched unison from the back of the plane like a chorus of the damned.

Still, the reason why the movie works at all is Hanks.

I cant imagine it airing anywhere but on Lifetime without him.

On the page, Sullenberger is a pretty vanilla, one-dimensional character.

A cipher with wings pinned to his chest.

Theres nothing inherently cinematic about him.

He knows theres power in subtlety, in quiet, in the unspoken gesturethe words thatarentspoken.

He knows that less can often be more.

Like Sully, hes the kind of guy you want behind the controls.B