The human mind is an amazing thing. Turned on itself, the mind can cause more harm than all but the most severe physical assaults. In Pushing Tin, a story of competing air traffic controllers, we see how lust, disloyalty, suspicion, jealousy and fear can bring a man down, regardless of what the people around him are actually doing.
John Cusack plays Nick Falzone, hotshot air traffic controller at the centre that handles airplane traffic around three major New York City-area airports. Nick is a cool island amidst the intensity of his profession. Those around him are tense and neurotic, but it seems that Nick can’t be ruffled. Although his marriage has staled over time, he is generally a happy and successful guy – and undisputed king of the air traffic controllers. That is, until Russell Bell arrives on the scene. Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) is eccentric, he’s got a beautiful wife, and he’s Nick’s match as a controller.
As Nick’s jealousy of Bell rises, his judgement weakens. Bell sinks more basketball free throws than Nick. He can control more planes at once. He can’t be intimidated. Worst of all, when Nick does grievous harm to Bell, there’s no reprisal. At least none that Nick recognises as a reprisal. Instead, Bell lets Nick’s mind avenge the wrong for him. And it doesn’t take much for Nick to start imagining a great deal. Before long, his life begins to disintegrate.
The wives of both men (played by Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie) are pulled into the midst of this conflict, from which both gain insights into their men. Unfortunately, once Nick steps onto the slippery slope of immorality, no insight is going to leave him looking good.
These psychological machinations take place within a story that’s humorous and fast-paced. Director Mike Newell has crafted an excellent black comedy that’s marred only by a supremely weak ‘Hollywood’ ending. Newell has made some interesting films since turning his attention from television to the big screen in the 1980s. Dance With a Stranger, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Enchanted April and Donnie Brasco make for an impressive résumé. Here, he takes subject matter that might have been the makings of light comedy or heavy drama and sneaks up the middle with it.
Cusack and Thornton are well cast as the duelling controllers who – despite their shared reputation as controller-kings – are really polar opposites. Cusack plays Nick’s slide from top dog to paranoid competitor hilariously, and Thornton is suitably inscrutable as the odd and intimidating Bell. Blanchett is dependably good and Jolie adds a raunchy charm to the proceedings.
While it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, Pushing Tin is both funny and thought provoking. Although its ending is exceedingly disappointing, the first 100 minutes of Pushing Tin are more than strong enough to rate is as a black comedy worth watching.
