Review of
Pushing
Tin,
DVD version
Four out of five stars
In one sense,
this movie has been made several times before, a married man (John Cusack) in a
stressful job (air traffic controller) encounters the beautiful wife (Angelina
Jolie) of a co-worker (Billy Bob Thornton) and her marriage is in serious
trouble. She is drinking heavily in an ineffective way to cope. The affair
leads to the married man having his wife (Cate Blanchett) and children leave
him and his life falls apart. He experiences a tremendous low before managing
to come back and appear to win his wife and job back.
What makes this
movie different is the character of Russell Bell, played by Billy Bob Thornton. Before he
arrived, Nick Falzone, played by John Cusack, is the best controller of the
group. However, Russell Bell quickly demonstrates that he is a better
controller, doing things with ease that the others would not attempt. Bell is
an enigma to all of his co-workers in how he works and plays, he just seems to
be able to do everything well, from shooting hoops to singing. He is a
character that you puzzle over, trying to determine what makes him function.
Bell is
portrayed as half Native American, even wearing a feather when he works. There
are many cynical undercurrents, for example the controllers make bets among
themselves as to whether a former co-worker will even be able to come back into
the building. There is a powerful macho contest between Bell and Falzone, yet
the competitiveness is almost totally one-sided, all coming from Falzone.
If it were not
for the character of Russell Bell, this would be at best an average movie.
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