Sully
Warner Bros. | Release Date: September 9, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
35
Mixed:
11
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 7, 2016
Sully is an absolute triumph. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskySep 7, 2016
Clint Eastwood’s Sully is not a perfect film, but it comes close to being a great one as it turns the real-life emergency landing of a passenger plane in the Hudson River into a meditation on duty and crisis that’s more Bertolt Brecht than “based on a true story.” Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 8, 2016
The movie is economical and solid, and generally low-key when it’s not freaking you out. That it unnerves you as much as it does may seem surprising, given that going in, we know how this story ends. But Mr. Eastwood is also very good at his job, a talent that gives the movie its tension along with an autobiographical sheen. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternSep 8, 2016
Clint Eastwood and his collaborators have made one of the best aviation movies ever, although “Apollo 13” — also starring Tom Hanks — comes very close. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 2, 2016
A vigorous and involving salute to professionalism and being good at your job, Sully vividly portrays the physical realities and human elements in the dramatic safe landing of a crippled US Airways jet on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaSep 8, 2016
The movie is a winner. One of the commuter ferry men declares, as he starts plucking people out of the water, "No one dies today." And no one does. If that isn't hopeful, I don't know what is. Read full review
88
Washington PostAnn HornadaySep 8, 2016
Sully is a classy, enormously satisfying ode to simple competence. To paraphrase the title character, it’s just a movie doing its job. And amen to that. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 8, 2016
The movie earns your attention and respect by digging deep, by finding the fear and self-doubt inside a man who'd never accept being defined as a hero. It's an eye-opener. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonSep 8, 2016
It’s hard to imagine an actor more appropriate to portray Sully than Hanks, who brings to the role a bedrock decency and soulful introspection. And Eckhart is perfect as the droll, easygoing Skiles. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshSep 7, 2016
It's a wonderful New York story, and Eastwood takes care to make it a story about the many different people who made it a miracle. That is the emotional core of the film, a celebration of the simple act of reaching out a helping hand without a second thought. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldSep 7, 2016
Eastwood and screenwriter Todd Komarnicki deftly create tension by twisting time around. Read full review
88
New York PostLou LumenickSep 6, 2016
At its heart, this is a thrilling tribute to a modest hero who rose to an extraordinary occasion. Read full review
85
TheWrapRobert AbeleSep 2, 2016
Sully, an honest, skillful rumination on what makes a hero, is just one more example of how Eastwood, having directed movies only slightly longer than his protagonist had been flying planes, is still a masterful pilot himself. Read full review
80
Village VoiceDanny KingSep 8, 2016
There is in Sully — as there is in Sniper — a purposefully conflicted reckoning with the very tenets of American heroism. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranSep 8, 2016
Efficient and effective in Eastwood's experienced hands, Sully has interwoven a crisp and electric retelling of the story of the landing we know with a story we do not. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 7, 2016
There is something compelling about someone who simply shows up for the job, day after day, carving out the remarkable from the unremarkable. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovSep 7, 2016
Eastwood keeps his direction lean and mean. There’s not an ounce of wasted screen time in Sully’s 96 minutes, but the story, an example of “truth is stranger than fiction,” has all the thrust it needs, and then some. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedSep 14, 2016
The most moving moments in Sully occur in a coda that introduces the actual passengers and crew who lived through the experience and Sully himself. No movie defines heroism with the same impact as reality itself. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaSep 9, 2016
This is first and foremost Eastwood’s movie and if he wants to feature his incongruous tinkling piano-bar jazz on the soundtrack, that is his prerogative. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerSep 9, 2016
There are many kinds of heroism, of course, but the version on display in Sully is, well, unsullied, and that sort of thing is more suitable for a monument than a movie. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 8, 2016
Sully proves to be by turns engaging, exhilarating, and nail-biting. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 8, 2016
As with “American Sniper,” Sully gets a little gooey in the final scenes, opting for a simplistic celebration of American know-how, where everything up to that point has been darker and more nuanced. Whether you want to accept it or not, Eastwood remains one of the best and most quixotic filmmakers we have, torn between jingoism and doubt, exceptionalism and despair. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubSep 8, 2016
In the end, Sully is a broadly crowd-pleasing movie, at a time when we could use the straight-forward entertainment. Read full review
75
The Film StageNick NewmanSep 8, 2016
It basks in the rightness of those who work hard to get a proper result, simultaneously disinterested in reinventing the wheel and still finding some new ways to spin it. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 7, 2016
Sully might not rank among Eastwood’s greatest films, but it shows his canny skill at deciding how to tell a story in which everybody knows the ending. That he manages to make it suspenseful and downright moving shows him at his professional best. Read full review
75
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodSep 3, 2016
In the end it’s really Eastwood who makes sure the film transcends the typical biopic tropes. At a spry 86 it’s unclear how much longer he’ll remain behind the director’s chair, but “Sully” proves that with the proper material and actors he can still stir emotions with the best of them. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatySep 2, 2016
The reason why the movie works at all is Hanks. Read full review
73
The VergeTasha RobinsonSep 8, 2016
It's only appropriate that the film is as competent, efficient, and mildly dull as the people it celebrates. Read full review
70
ScreenCrushMatt SingerSep 7, 2016
The film isn’t about catastrophe; it’s about the beauty of what happens when everyone works together to solve a problem. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 2, 2016
Though not always as confident outside of the cockpit, Sully mostly earns its crowd-pleasing, lump-in-your-throat sentiment. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 2, 2016
With his snowy white hair and moustache to match, Hanks conveys a man confident in his abilities, yet humble in his actions, which could also be said of Eastwood as a director. Read full review
67
IndieWireEric KohnSep 2, 2016
With Tom Hanks appropriately cast as good-natured Sully, Eastwood delivers an earnest, straightforward look at the way the captain’s professionalism saved the day. But while that aspect of the movie hits more than a few obvious notes, the crash is the real star of the show. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEric HendersonSep 8, 2016
It presses the case that the complexity of the human condition distracts us from the pure dignity of a noble act. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Simon HouptSep 8, 2016
Thrilling when we’re on and around the plane (seeing that giant CGI bird splash down, especially on an Imax screen, makes you realize how improbable the whole enterprise was) and too often thudding when we’re not. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittSep 7, 2016
Hanks invokes gravitas, deep introspection and even sly wit as Sullenberger, yet the one thing he can’t make up for is the distinct lack of onscreen danger in what could be considered a decently tame disaster film. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly RichardsNov 28, 2016
Eastwood’s message that no good deed goes unpunished feels misplaced, but for the crash sequences and Hanks’ turn it’s worthwhile. But for goodness’ sake, don’t watch it on a plane. Read full review
60
Total FilmPhilip KempNov 28, 2016
Sully is a skilfully made reconstruction of a recent real-life feat of heroic professionalism. But narrative tension is sorely lacking. Read full review
60
SlateDana StevensSep 9, 2016
Sully can feel like a dutiful, hagiographic slog, even though its actual running time barely tops 90 minutes and both Hanks and Eckhart give warm, understated, funny performances in the only two roles developed enough to qualify as real characters. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinSep 8, 2016
Hanks and those scenes in the cockpit make the movie worth seeing, in spite of the dumb melodramatics. But only just. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Sep 7, 2016
The film barely lasts an hour-and-a-half. Maybe that’s the problem with the movie. There’s not enough movie. Read full review
60
The GuardianNigel M SmithSep 4, 2016
Hanks delivers an internal and sympathetic performance. Eastwood doesn’t burrow too deeply into his protagonist’s psyche, other than to visibly demonstrate that he’s haunted by the landing. Still, Hanks, who’s uncommonly, well, sullen, for much of the film, goes a long way to convey Sullenberger’s conflicted anguish. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 4, 2016
Sully is so square, it’s a wonder it even gets airborne. Hanks’s walking iceberg never thaws; the actor is never as vulnerable as he was in Captain Phillips. Read full review
58
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallSep 8, 2016
Hanks keeps things interesting with an array of concerned expressions and distant gazes. But there's no tension in faked suffering. The actor and Eastwood's movie are limited by the goodness of their subject, the flawlessness of his actions. Read full review
58
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerSep 7, 2016
The more affecting moments in Sully come when the film puts aside its posturing and really examines what it is to be heroic in a cynical age. Read full review
50
MTV NewsAmy NicholsonSep 22, 2016
Tom Hanks is so quietly compelling that he gives the film an illusion of depth. Read full review
50
HitfixDrew McWeenySep 10, 2016
There are no real stakes, and I find the attempts at creating suspense to be almost offensive. Irritating, at the very least. Read full review
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