The story of US Airways Flight 1549—which, in 2009, pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger famously landed on the Hudson River—was going to be made into a movie whether we wanted it or not. So the news that Clint Eastwood, nowadays a dimmed, decidedly disappointing figure, was going to direct was neither surprising nor exciting. I’m a bit relieved, then, to tell you that Sully is a far more successful exercise in both dramatic storytelling and patriotism than Eastwood’s 2012 dialogue with a chair.

In another predictable move, Tom Hanks is cast as the title character. Hanks, as we’ve known for decades, radiates that same pure, quiet, boring heroism we’ve come to associate with Sullenberger. It’s exactly what the movie requires. And while there’s a bunch of uninteresting stuff surrounding the flight (Sully has stress dreams! Sully is uncomfortable with his newfound celebrity! Sully’s wife [Laura Linney, a phone pressed to her face in each of her scenes] wants him to come home, please!), the scenes of the actual incident are tremendous moviemaking.

Ned Lannamann is a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon. He writes about film, music, TV, books, travel, tech, food, drink, outdoors, and other things.