Review: Flight

Review: Flight

Denzel Washington stars in this Oscar-nominated drama about an alcoholic airline pilot who miraculously lands a diving plane against all the odds. Robert Zemeckis, who hasn't directed a live-action film since 2000's Cast Away, steers the film safely when it comes to the exhilarating crash sequence, however it almost feels as though Flight is a victim of its own success. The opening scenes are so exciting that everything afterwards feels dull, depressing and (as Marty McFly would say in Zemeckis' own Back To The Future series) "heavy."

Flight feels like it should actually be based on a true story, following in the vein of aeroplane disaster movies such as United 93; however, it is actually based around one extraordinary detail which emerged from a real-life plane crash in 2000 - the theory that a plane (apparently in fatal free fall) could actually be forced to level out into a safe glide. To give it a go, the pilot has to be either very desperate or very drunk.

That is the basis of Flight; Washington's substance abusing pilot, Captain William "Whip" Whitaker has two small bottles of vodka with his orange juice whilst at the wheel of the plane. Whether as a result of this or not, the plane suddenly descends into a straight dive towards a residential area; Whip makes the hasty decision to invert the aircraft and roll it, landing it relatively safely in an unoccupied field. He loses consciousness and awakes in a hospital room, only to find that his problems are just beginning: his blood was drawn on the day of the crash and alcohol was found in his system - a crime for any pilot. 

After this, the movie becomes dull and weighed down by the promise of more interesting plot developments - at the end of the day, this is the kind of story we've seen before. A man has a substance abuse problem and attempts to battle it, resulting in pain and misery for an abundance of painful and miserable characters when he inevitably fails. Oh but will he win in the end? 

Well, you'll have to wait about two and a half hours to find out, as Flight drags out its fairly simple premise over a very stretched running time. The film attempts to liven things up by throwing in Kelly Reilly as love interest Nicole, a woman who meets Whip in hospital after overdosing on heroin, but this only leads to more boredom as they go through the usual turmoil of dragging each other down. 

On the flip side Don Cheadle is excellent as Hugh Lang, an attorney who attempts to ensure that Whip does not end up going to prison on drink, drugs and manslaughter charges. Equally, John Goodman brings some much needed comic relief in the form of Whip's dealer Harling Mays, a man of little honesty in contrast to Cheadle's justice-seeking attorney.

Ultimately though, it's Denzel Washington who steals the show. Whip is a very unsympathetic character but thanks to a stunning performance by the Oscar nominee, we find ourselves routing for the alcoholic as it slowly becomes clear that no one else could have landed the plane like him. In the final scenes where Whip attends a hearing to determine his fate, the conflict and guilt is brilliantly acted in his words and face; it's clear that Washington deserves this Oscar nomination against some very stiff competition.

Still, at the end of the day excellent performances can't detract from a contrived narrative that soars sky high in its opening half hour yet crash lands harder than the Whip's plane for the rest of the movie. Zemeckis does have some brilliant shots and, despite his dabbling in CGI Animation like A Christmas Carol and The Polar Express, it's clear that he is still a pro with live action, but his spot on camera work hardly manages to lift the dull movie into the air.

Summary

Flight wants to be a hard-hitting investigation into the causes and stresses of addiction and substance abuse, but ultimately it's all been done before in ways that are much less time consuming and much more exciting. The opening scenes featuring the actual plane crash are heart pounding and expertly directed, but it seems as though this should actually be the climax of the film rather than having the most jaw-dropping moments at the start. After this, the remaining two hours drag to the point where its hard to stomach the contrived narrative. There are some astounding performances, particularly from Denzel Washington, but ultimately decent acting can't get a movie off the ground on its own.

5/10 - Mediocre

See it if you liked: Cast Away (2000), United 93 (2006), Crazy Heart (2011)