Logline:
An airline pilot saves a flight from crashing,
but an investigation into the malfunctions reveals something troubling.
Cast: Denzel
Washington, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
It's been way too long since
my last post. So much for my horror theme. I blame school.
So, why this post if school
is still on? Well, I really needed to vent about this movie. I literally just
finished watching this about an hour ago in theatres. I pretty much stayed
clear of all individual reviews of this one. I knew Zemeckis was directing, I
knew this was a movie that Denzel could really flex his acting muscles that I
know he has, and I knew this was going to be a character piece dealing with
severely flawed characters. For those three reasons, I was almost expecting
this to be my hidden gem somewhere down the road that I tell my children about
one day.
I've chosen to drop my
regular structure to allow me freedom of explaining my complete thoughts of
this movie.
So, Flight starts off in a hotel room - Denzel, aka Whip Whitaker,
wakes up beside a beautiful naked flight attendant after a long night with no
sleep and a ton of alcohol. He takes a swig of his leftover beer to clear his
throat. Right from the first scene we can tell this character is flawed. This
is great, because later on we can see how he's going to change and it sets up
for an interesting journey.
Not long after, I experienced
one of the most intense movie scenes I've ever had the privilege of viewing in
theatres. The actual plane crash is phenomenal. I can't use any words to do it
justice, it's really that good.
Well, the positive critique
stops there. Because right after the plane crash I was so exhilarated, I didn't
want to slow down. I was so happy up to that point with what I was watching, I
actually stopped and thought to myself - "what the hell is going to come
next?" Well, my question was slowly answered as the movie turned into 2
different plots. 1) the investigation of Whip being an alcoholic and drunk
while flying, and 2) his relationship with a junkie he randomly met in a
hospital stairwell. This is where Flight crashes
for the second time, except this time it's not phenomenal, it's not
exhilerating, it's actually rather dull and shallow.
A lot of people will watch
this movie and be amazed by Denzel Washington's acting. They should. He finally
stepped up to the plate and delivered a performance to go along with Training Day and American Gangster that I can actually source when talking about him
as a serious actor that branches into a variety of great roles. I'm happy with
that. But, his acting didn't blind me from the story's flaws.
Flight
suffers from a severely poor climax. The entire movie Whip chooses to drink.
There is a scene where he yells out numerous times "I choose to
drink!" and explains all of the stuff he's lost. Then he continues to yell
that he chooses to drink. He's given numerous opportunities to stop drinking,
he's given many wake up calls, and when it matters the ABSOLUTE most to stop
(no pun intended), he doesn't. That's why when he actually does quit, and it's
for such a weak reason, the journey of him overcoming his addiction is capped
off by an action that is not only something I didn't truly believe, but also
something that was really anti-climactic. The end felt rushed and that's saying
something in a 2 hour and 18 minute movie, but I felt they spent way too much
time dealing with things that didn't matter rather than constructing a
satisfying ending where our hero literally takes the reins of his addiction and
drives it off a cliff.
They also chose to explore a
new relationship, with a new character as flawed as he is, that takes us nowhere. I
don't mean to spoil things, but this character leaves him and never comes back.
We actually don't see her again aside from a picture at the end that Whip has.
She didn't help him, she just ran away. Her purpose to the story? Still trying
to figure it out. This sucks because her role is quite a large chunk of the
plot. Probably should have spent more time on his ex-wife and son, considering that is his main problem/solution he needs to control in the movie outside of his alcoholism.
Consensus... well, Flight did have some interesting scenes,
some funny scenes, some intense scenes, and two powerhouse performances from
Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis, but ultimately this film suffers from a
lack of pace, a confused subplot, and an really anticlimactic payoff that
didn't seem real. Was it a bad movie? No, but I didn't think it was a good
movie either.
The only thing I can do now
is say it's worth the watch, because this movie wasn't for me, but others may
enjoy it for what it does actually deliver.
6/10
