After finishingCatch Me If You Can (2002), Spielberg decided to directThe Terminal because he wanted to make a film "that could make us laugh and cry and feel good about the world". As no suitable airport was willing to provide their facilities, an entire working set was built inside a large hangar at theLA/Palmdale Regional Airport, with the customs hall, offices and most of the film's exterior shots filmed at theMontreal–Mirabel International Airport.[3]
The film was released in North America byDreamWorks Pictures on June 18, 2004, to generally positive reviews and was a commercial success, earning $219 million worldwide.
Viktor Navorski, a traveler from Krakozhia, arrives atNew York City'sJohn F. Kennedy International Airport and learns that acoup d'état has occurred in his country while he was in the air. The United States does not recognize Krakozhia's new government, rendering Viktor's passport invalid and leaving him unable to either enter the United States or return to Krakozhia.U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizes his passport and return ticket, pending resolution of the issue, leaving him stranded at the airport with only his luggage and aPlanters peanut can in his possession.
Frank Dixon, the Acting Field Commissioner of the airport, instructs Viktor to stay in the transit lounge until the issue is resolved, but he becomes determined to make Viktor someone else's problem. He tries to tempt Viktor to leave illegally by ordering guards away from the exit for five minutes, but it fails. Dixon then tries to persuade Viktor to claim asylum, but Viktor refuses, as he is not afraid of returning to his own country.
Viktor finds a gate under renovation and makes it his home. Being considered for a promotion, Dixon becomes increasingly obsessed with getting rid of Viktor. Meanwhile, Viktor begins reading guidebooks in order to learn English.
He has repeated encounters with Gupta Rajan, a grumpy elderly janitor, with whom he slowly forms a bond. He also befriends Joe Mulroy, a baggage handler who plays poker, betting lost luggage items. Enrique Cruz, a food service truck driver, provides Viktor with free meals in exchange for helping him woo Dolores Torres, an immigration officer whom Viktor has befriended.
Viktor shows skill at construction work when he remodels a wall in a terminal undergoing renovation. The airport contractors assume he is an employee and pay him under the table. He also begins a relationship with Amelia, a flight attendant who is also entangled with a married government official.
During a visit from his superiors, Dixon enlists Viktor's help in communicating with aRussian man who is desperately attempting to bring medicine home to his dying father. Dixon is determined to refuse the man because of a paperwork issue, which Viktor helps the young man circumvent, incensing and embarrassing Dixon, who threatens Viktor and tells him he will never allow him to enter the United States. This incident is witnessed by Dixon's superiors, who give him a look of contempt before leaving, while Viktor becomes a legend amongst the terminal employees for helping the man and standing up to Dixon.
Dixon detains Amelia and interrogates her about Viktor. Amelia, who realizes Viktor has not been entirely truthful, confronts him at his makeshift home, where he shows her that the Planters peanut can contains a copy of the "A Great Day in Harlem" photograph. His late father was ajazz enthusiast who had discovered the picture in aHungarian newspaper in 1958 and vowed to collect the autographs of all 57 musicians depicted in it, all of which are in the can with the photograph. He died needing only the autograph of tenor saxophonistBenny Golson, and Viktor has come to New York to get it. After hearing the story, Amelia kisses Viktor.
Nine months after having arrived, Viktor learns that the war in Krakozhia has ended. Amelia reveals that her married boyfriend has secured Viktor a one-day emergency visa so he can fulfill his dream, but that she has also rekindled the relationship.
When he presents the emergency visa at customs, Viktor is told that Dixon must sign it. However, as Viktor's passport is now valid again, Dixon is determined to deport him back to Krakozhia. He warns Viktor that if he does not go home at once, he will prosecute his friends at the airport for their illegal activities, most seriously by deporting Gupta back toIndia to face a charge of assaulting a corrupt police officer. Viktor finally agrees to return home, but Gupta delays the plane by running in front of it and is taken into custody.
Emboldened by his friend's actions, Viktor decides to leave the airport. Several airport employees rush to say goodbye, but Dixon orders his officers to stop Viktor at the exit where, disillusioned with Dixon, they let him leave. Dixon reaches the taxi stand only moments after Viktor has left, but has a change of heart and tells his officers to handle the incoming travelers rather than engage in pursuit. Viktor arrives at the hotel where Golson is performing and finally collects the last autograph, then takes a taxi back to the airport to go home.
The idea for the film may have originated from the story ofMehran Karimi Nasseri, also known as Sir Alfred, anIranianrefugee who lived in Terminal One of theCharles de Gaulle Airport, Paris from 1988 until 2006.[2][4] In September 2003,The New York Times noted thatSteven Spielberg bought the rights to Nasseri's life story as the basis for the film; and in September 2004The Guardian noted Nasseri received thousands of dollars from the filmmakers.[5][6] However, none of the studio's publicity materials mention Nasseri's story as an inspiration for the film, and the storyline bears no resemblance to Nasseri's experiences. The 1993 French filmLost in Transit was already based on the same story. In deciding to make the film, Spielberg stated that after directingCatch Me If You Can, "I wanted to do another movie that could make us laugh and cry and feel good about the world. ... This is a time when we need to smile more and Hollywood movies are supposed to do that for people in difficult times."[7]
Spielberg traveled around the world to find an actual airport that would let him film for the length of the production but could not find one. TheTerminal set was built in a massive hangar at theLA/Palmdale Regional Airport. The hangar, part of theU.S. Air ForcePlant 42 complex, was used to build theRockwell InternationalB-1B bomber. The set was built to full earthquake construction codes and was based onDüsseldorf Airport. The shape of both the actual terminal and the set viewed sideways is a cross-section of an aircraft wing. Because of this design, the film was one of the first to use theSpidercam. The camera, most often used for televised sports, allowed Spielberg the ability to create sweeping shots across the set. The design of the set forThe Terminal, as noted byRoger Ebert in his reviews and attested by Spielberg himself in a feature byEmpire magazine, was greatly inspired byJacques Tati's classic filmPlayTime.[8]
Tom Hanks based his characterization of Viktor Navorski on his father-in-law Allan Wilson, a Bulgarian immigrant who speaks "Russian,Turkish,Polish,Greek, little bit ofItalian, little bit ofFrench", in addition to his nativeBulgarian.[9] Hanks also had some help from a Bulgarian translator.[10]
Krakozhia (Кракожия) is a fictional country, created for the film, that closely resembles a formerSoviet Republic or anEastern Bloc state.
The exact location of Krakozhia is kept intentionally vague in the film. However, in one scene, a map of Krakozhia is briefly displayed on one of the airport's television screens during a news report on the ongoing conflict. Its borders are those of present-dayNorth Macedonia (known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia at the time of the film's production). However, in another scene, Viktor shows his driver's license, which is aBelarusian license issued to a woman bearing anUzbek name.
John Williams, the film's composer, also wrote a national anthem for Krakozhia.[11]
Hanks' character speaks mostlyBulgarian as his native Krakozhian. However, in one scene, in which he helps a Russian-speaking passenger with a customs-related issue, he speaks aconstructedSlavic language resembling Bulgarian and Russian.[12][13] When Viktor buys a guide book of New York both in English and in his mother tongue to compare the two versions and improve his English, the book he studies is written in Russian.
Emily Bernstein played clarinet for the score, including several prominent solos, and her name is in the film's end credits.[20] Normally individual musicians in studio orchestras perform anonymously, but Spielberg insisted on highlighting Bernstein's work; she was being treated for cancer at the time of recording, and she died less than a year later.[20]
Rotten Tomatoes reported that 61% of 206 sampled critics gaveThe Terminal positive reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Terminal transcends its flaws through the sheer virtue of its crowd-pleasing message and a typically solid star turn from Tom Hanks."[21] AtMetacritic, the film has aweighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[22] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[23]
Michael Wilmington from theChicago Tribune said "[the film] takes Spielberg into realms he's rarely traveled before."[24]A. O. Scott ofThe New York Times said Hanks' performance brought a lot to the film.[25]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gaveThe Terminal three and a half out of four stars, stating that "This premise could have yielded a film of contrivance and labored invention. Spielberg, his actors and writers... weave it into a human comedy that is gentle and true, that creates sympathy for all of its characters, that finds a tone that will carry them through, that made me unreasonably happy".[8] Martin Liebman of Blu-ray.com considers the film as "quintessential cinema", praising it for being "a down-to-earth, honest, hopeful, funny, moving, lightly romantic, and dramatically relevant film that embodies the term 'movie magic' in every scene."[26] CriticMatt Zoller Seitz ofRogerEbert.com consideredThe Terminal alongsideWar of the Worlds andMunich (also directed by Spielberg) as the three best films made within the studio system that comment upon theSeptember 11 attacks.[27][28]
The Terminal was released onDVD byDreamWorks Home Entertainment on November 23, 2004.[29] In February 2006,Viacom (now known asParamount Skydance) acquired the rights toThe Terminal and all other live-action films DreamWorks had released since 1997, following its billion-dollar-acquisition of the company's live-action film and television library.[30][31] On May 6, 2014,Paramount Home Entertainment released the film onBlu-ray.[32]
