Under the effective no-nonsense direction of Clint Eastwood and led by an impressively stoic Tom Hanks, Sully is a moving and engrossing tribute to the heroes behind the Miracle on the Hudson.

Above all, Sully is movie that America especially needs right now. With clear barriers between institutions of authority and the citizens they have sworn to serve and protect, Sully is a film that shows how the system can work when the right time comes, as the case of January 15 2009 when a US Airways flight landed in the Hudson River.

The pilot on that plane was Captain Chesley Sulleberger, or otherwise affectionately known as “Sully”, whose decades long experience determined that the only way to save the 150 souls on board his plane was to land on water. Much fame followed, as well as scrutiny from National Transportation Safety Board investigators who were determined to prove Sully’s actions as reckless.

Both the event and the investigation that followed take up the compact 96-minute runtime of Sully. Editor Blu Murray (a long-time assistant editor on many of Eastwood’s films) expertly straddles both the before and after of this infamous moment in US aviation history, with the stakes high as both sections are expertly intertwined to make for engrossing, heart-pulsing viewing.

A major reason why Sully succeeds as such an intimate and gripping movie is (of course) due to Eastwood’s no-nonsense, salt of the earth direction. The events of Sully do not need much in the way of embellishment. They are remarkable on their won. Rather, Sully serves as a reminder of the heroism that can arise from those whose profession is in service to fellow man. Whether pilot, coast guard, paramedic, police… there is a trust inherent that when bad things happen, action by these men and women in uniform will follow. In the case of Sully, that action was extraordinary. Throughout the movie we are reminded that no pilot intentionally lands a commercial airplane on water. Sully did and for good reason.

Playing the title character is Tom Hanks. It continues a trend of his (Captain Phillips, Bridge of Spies) of portraying ordinary men, professionals through and through, dealing with an extraordinary situation. As expected Hanks nails his role. But was unexpected was the stoic, meditative approach in which Hanks did so, portraying a man whose magnetic humility in the face of incredible media and legal pressure is in itself a courageous act.

The perfect combination of director, actor and story, Sully is a movie to watch and to value.