After “American Sniper” and “Invictus”, Clint Eastwood released his next biopic, “Sully,” starring Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart and Laura Linney, a touching film about the 2009 Hudson river landing in which a Airbus A320 with 155 souls on board took off from LaGuardia Airport and made a forced landing into the Hudson river two minutes after take-off. With an abundance of emotion and tension, it evolves into a memorable drama despite the fact that the audience knows everyone on the plane lives in the end.

Despite the white hair and makeup reminding us that one of America’s most beloved actors is aging, Tom Hanks gives one of his best performances in recent memory with a deep understanding of the impenetrable focus and invaluable experience Captain Chesley Sullenberger possesses.

Often typecast as a experienced and resourceful yet emotional character, Hanks makes this performance unique with genuine moments of vulnerability to the relentless media attention while being composed and doing what he loves, a situation which Hanks conveniently find himself in frequently.

Aaron Eckhart does his best in a supporting role as Jeff Skiles, the co-pilot, with surprisingly low amounts of significant screen time but ends up being a wall for Sullenberger to bounce dialogue and his feelings off of. Laura Linney, who plays Sully’s wife, suffers from similar issues and ends up becoming a second one-dimensional character who does little apart from adding superficial tension through family and financial issues. The scenes showing her conversations with Sully show his devotion to family and isolation, but do not develop and are largely forgotten by the audience by the end of the movie.

Though a lesser known actor, the unsung hero of the movie is Patch Darragh, who plays the air traffic controller who speaks with the cockpit of US Airways Flight 1549 in the final moments before the water landing. His portrayal of the panic slowly creeping into his mind is subtle but convincing, and his despair when he assumes that the airplane crashes and everyone on board has been killed is a haunting reminder of the tragedy that was so close to becoming reality.

The film’s editing makes the relatively simple story an intense experience with Sully’s relatable attempts to cope with the possibility that he made the wrong decision punctuated with his heroic actions on the Hudson. However, two flashbacks to Sully’s teenage years and his time in the Air Force provide some characterization of Sully, but lack the explanation and context required to justify disturbing the film’s rhythm.

Much of the movie’s run time is devoted to multiple flashbacks of the crash itself which cut to the perspectives of the pilots and a select few of the passengers and rescue personnel. With beautiful cinematography and solid acting for each of the passengers, the scene is emotional despite the guaranteed outcome. Despite the effectiveness of the flashback scene, the movie’s close attention to its portrayal of the Miracle on the Hudson contributed to its neglect of Sully’s struggles to cope with the scrutiny of his actions and the media. Its predictable ending may seem abrupt to many and feels too premature for the gravity of the events of the movie. With only a 1 hour 36 minute run-time, Eastwood had more run-time to devote to the character development of Sully. Anything from explaining Sully’s childhood flashbacks to adding nuance to his struggles with the sudden attention could have made the ending pay off so much more.

Sully, a dramatic heart-warming tale with spectacle to match, succeeds in telling one of the most impactful accounts of the Hudson river landing, but it lacks the character depth needed to reach the highest standards of biographical storytelling.