Flight - Review

Robert Zemeckis has to be one of the most under-appreciated directors working in Hollywood today. Even though the guy has won an Oscar and received acclaim for many of his films, he still rarely gets the credit he truly deserves. With the exception of film buffs, few people would recognize his name despite knowing the guy's filmography. Let's take a look at his work, Romancing The Stone (enjoyable movie), Back To The Future (excellent film), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (another excellent movie), Back to the Future II & III (very fun movies too), Cast Away (very impressive film), and his Oscar winning Forrest Gump (good movie but not his best). I imagine most people reading this have either seen or, at the very least, heard of those flicks yet I doubt many of you knew who was the director. Since Cast Away, however, Zemeckis' films haven't exactly been up to his usual standards, since he primarily left live action work to focus on directing motion capture cgi movies. His previous three directorial efforts, The Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol polarized audiences and critics. Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of all three of them. They all had some interesting moments and some impressive bits of animation, but once the novelty of the mo-cap technology wore off, there just wasn't much about them that left any lasting impression. But now, Zemeckis finally returns to live action with the drama Flight starring Denzel Washington. Let's just say that it's great to see Zemeckis back making live action films!

Flight tells the story of Whip Whitaker, an airline pilot who may or may not have a drinking problem. After a night of binge drinking, he takes to the air piloting a flight with 102 passengers en route to Miami. Midway through the flight, the plane's mechanics begin to malfunction and starts to go into a dive. Through a series of crazy maneuvers, Whip miraculously manages to crash land the plane in an open field, saving 96 of the passengers on board. Hailed as a hero, Whip is taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, but celebrations are cut short when his friend Charlie (who works for the airline) and hot-shot attorney, inform him that blood samples were taken at the site of the crash, and Whip's indicated high levels of alcohol. With possible charges of intoxicated flying and manslaughter (for the six people on board that died), Whip faces potential jail time (possibly life if he is found guilty) for the incident. As officials investigate the circumstances of the crash, Whip attempts to turn his life around but continually resorts to drinking to deal with the stress.

Movies with stories about subjects like alcoholism or substance abuse are tricky to pull off. On one hand, it's easy to indulge in cliche or formulaic plots and story beats, resulting in a film that's predictable and kind of dull. The other risk would be the possibility that the film would come off as preachy or proselytizing, something like a feature length DARE video (do they still do DARE in elementary schools? I remember being subjected to that crap for most of my grade school years). Some have managed the subject well (Requiem For A Dream and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas are among the better takes), while others, not so much (Reefer Madness anyone). Flight, however, falls into the category of well-done takes on the subject. In addition to being a well-made character study about alcoholism and substance abuse, the film is also a compelling drama, mystery, and thriller that doesn't pull any punches but doesn't try to bombard you with preachy "say no to drugs" messages.

The film mainly scores from it's dynamic cast, led by the always excellent Denzel Washington. While it almost goes without saying these days that he's a great actor, sometimes it's easy to forget just how great of an actor Denzel Washington really is. With a growing list of increasingly stellar performances, it's next to impossible to rank all of his films and it's even harder to try and figure out where Flight fits into the roster, but I can fully say that it at the absolute least ranks among Denzel's finest performances and is all but guaranteed to pick him up yet another Oscar nomination (possibly even a win). While Denzel is no doubt awesome in this, that's hardly much of a surprise. Who did surprise me, however, was the performance of Kelly Reilly in the role of Whip's friend Nicole, a heroin junkie attempting to turn her life around. Despite being an established performer of the stage and screen, I wasn't familiar with most of her work (though I had seen her in the role of Mary Morstan in 2009's Sherlock Holmes), but she made a huge impression in this film. Her committed and deeply emotional performance, plus her natural chemistry with Denzel, was among the best in the film. I'm seriously hoping that the Academy recognizes her talent this year and includes her among the nominee list for Best Supporting Actress. I also have to mention John Goodman as Harling Mays, Whip's personal friend and drug dealer. Goodman is always a hoot to watch, and his goofy and enjoyable presence was a welcome addition here. Not much more to say really, it's a great cast and everyone does a solid job.

While it's the cast that really makes Flight soar (pardon the pun), the rest of the film's elements come together quite nicely. As I mentioned earlier, the film boasts a solid script that doesn't sugar coat it's subject matter but doesn't come off as in-your-face preachy either. The trailer had a fairly uplifting tone and came off like the film would be some kind of feel-good or touchy-feely flick, but in reality that couldn't have been further from the truth. It has a very dark and often depressing tone, really giving way to it's dramatic subject material and psyche of it's main character. It also benefits from Zemeckis' sure hand as a director, who once again steps up to the plate like a boss and does what he does best. Actually, for a director whose known primarily for directing special effects heavy blockbusters, this is one of his smaller and more sensible productions. Still, it's really a testament to a director where he can take a scene where the main character has to decide whether or not he's going to drink again and turn that into a white knuckle suspense trip... not to mention one of the most suspenseful plane crash scenes I've seen in recent memory. The only real complaint I have is that the film is a bit long, and a couple of scenes do tend to drag a bit. Plus, there was a somewhat odd subplot about God and spirituality that doesn't really go anywhere. Still, those are relatively minor complaints. Most of what we have here is pretty damn close to flawless. It's just that good of a film.

So that's Flight, and right now it's a very heavy contender for my favorite film of 2012 (gotta see a few more though before I compile the list). If you're looking for a brilliantly acted and compelling drama, this one should definitely do the trick. If it's still playing near you, check it out!

My Score: 4.5 out of 5!