Reel Opinions


Saturday, November 03, 2012

Flight

pic 
I kept on waiting for Flight to take on some kind of deeper meaning.  I kept on waiting for it to truly delve into some of the interesting questions it raises.  But, it never did.  While this is a well-made and at times uncompromisingly dark movie, it ends up being just another film about the evils of addiction.  Do we really need another movie where the main character constantly abuses drugs and alcohol, and keeps on saying "I can quit whenever I want to"?  Do we really need another movie to tell us how an addiction can destroy our lives, and the lives of those around us?  And did we really, really need the last 10 minutes of this movie to turn into an endless and preachy sermon that feels like it's assaulting the audience with its message?

picAs the film opens, airline pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) wakes up the same way he does a lot of mornings - hungover in a hotel room with an equally hungover naked woman beside him.  He has a flight in less than two hours, so to wake himself up, he takes a hit on the woman's joint, then snorts some coke on the nearby desk.  Moments later, he's heading off to work to be a Captain on a flight from Florida to Atlanta.  As he enters the cockpit of the plane, his co-pilot is suspicious about Whip's behavior, but says nothing.  No one even notices that he slips some miniature liquor bottles into his orange juice.  The plane takes off in the midst of a terrible storm.  It  is a harrowing ordeal, but the plane brakes through the clouds okay.  It would seem the worst is over, but later in the flight, the plane suddenly malfunctions and plummets into a nosedive.

picThe resulting sequence is nothing short of spellbinding and horrifying, as Whip struggles to take control of the plummeting aircraft.  He inverts the plane to level out their descent, and ultimately lands in a field near a church.  Due to his actions, the casualties on the plane are minimal (two crew members, four passengers), and nearly everyone, including Whip, walks away from the crash alive.  Whip awakens in a hospital with a minor concussion and pain.  He also awakens to find himself a hero in the eyes of the media for pulling off such a tricky landing with minimal loss.  Before he can enjoy his sudden fame, however, he is approached by a pilot's union rep named Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood) and a Chicago attorney named Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle).  They tell him that while Whip was unconscious, his blood alcohol level was tested, and it was found to be well above the legal limit.  While the plane did malfunction, the fact that he shouldn't have been piloting it in the first place in his drunken state could cause problems once they come to light in the press.

picThe movie raises an interesting question around this point - Was it the combination of alcohol and drugs in his system which led to the unorthodox thinking that led to the saving of hundreds of lives?  It raises the question, but never really digs into it.  Instead, the remainder of the movie turns into a predictable series of events where Whip refuses to admit he has a problem, even though it's painfully obvious to everyone around him.  His drinking and drug use has already cost him the marriage to his former wife, and the respect of his teenage son, who wants nothing to do with him.  Now, if word gets out, his entire career and future could be in jeopardy.  This could make for compelling drama, but it's built on a stack of worn cliches.  We even get a scene where a friend and former addict (Kelly Reilly) tries to help him by taking Whip to an AA meeting.  During the meeting, Whip simply rolls his eyes, and leaves early, heading out to buy more alcohol.

picAs the movie goes on, and Whip is forced to fight his demons and temptations for an upcoming testimony to a council about what happened the day of the crash, the movie goes to convoluted lengths to keep him drinking.  For example, the night before he's going to go before the council, Whip is placed in a hotel room with a guard outside the door, making sure he doesn't leave to feed his personal habits.  Even the room's minibar has been stocked solely with juices and soda, at the request of the lawyer representing him.  But then, in the middle of the night, a stray gust of wind blows open the door to the connecting room, which Whip wanders into, and finds a minibar filled to the brim with alcoholic beverages.  As he stares at the bottles, the only thing missing are a little cartoon angel and devil to appear on his shoulders, arguing whether or not he should give in to temptation.

picFlight is not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination.  It's well-acted, and the depiction of the plane crash early in the film is bound to leave jaws on the floor, and probably have more than a few people second guessing their holiday travel plans.  I guess I expected a little bit more, since this is the first live action film since 2000's Castaway for director Robert Zemeckis. (He spent the last decade working on high end motion capture animated films like The Polar Express and Beowulf.) This is definitely darker and far more somber material than we're used to seeing from Zemeckis.  I have no problem with that.  I just was disappointed with how simplistic the screenplay handles its dramatic situation.  It takes it at face value, much the same way a high school educational film about teen drinking would, and never really bothers to delve deeper into the characters, or the questions its own premise raises.

picBut then came the ending.  I think that was the deciding factor in my decision to vote this film just below a recommendation.  The last 10 minutes or so of the film are basically spent spelling out everything that we've already picked up on.  Instead of being subtle, it ends by hammering its point home over and over until I just wanted it to stop.  I don't know if it was studio interference or what, but something about the way this movie ended gave me the impression that it was tacked on at some later point.  It turns what was up to that point a cliched, but adult film about addiction, into a simple-minded one where the main character looks into the camera, and gives a speech about what he has learned.  Why was this ending necessary?  Why couldn't it have closed on a more subtle note?

pic 
Flight is a movie that I really wanted to like a lot more than I did.  It means well, and the performances are strong, but I just couldn't get involved.  It does have a lot of truth when it comes to addictions, and it doesn't shy away from the darker side of its subject matter.  But it also never quite dives as deep as it should have.  Consider this a mixed review from me.  I just thought this one could have been better.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

0 comments

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005
10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005
12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006
02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006
03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006
04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006
05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006
06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006
07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006
08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006
09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006
10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006
11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006
12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007
02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007
03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007
04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007
05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007
06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007
07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007
08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007
09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007
10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007
11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007
12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008
02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008
03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008
04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008
05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008
06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008
07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008
08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008
09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008
10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008
11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008
12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009
01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009
02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009
03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009
04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009
05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009
06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009
07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009
08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009
09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009
10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009
11/01/2009 - 12/01/2009
12/01/2009 - 01/01/2010
01/01/2010 - 02/01/2010
02/01/2010 - 03/01/2010
03/01/2010 - 04/01/2010
04/01/2010 - 05/01/2010
05/01/2010 - 06/01/2010
06/01/2010 - 07/01/2010
07/01/2010 - 08/01/2010
08/01/2010 - 09/01/2010
09/01/2010 - 10/01/2010
10/01/2010 - 11/01/2010
11/01/2010 - 12/01/2010
12/01/2010 - 01/01/2011
01/01/2011 - 02/01/2011
02/01/2011 - 03/01/2011
03/01/2011 - 04/01/2011
04/01/2011 - 05/01/2011
05/01/2011 - 06/01/2011
06/01/2011 - 07/01/2011
07/01/2011 - 08/01/2011
08/01/2011 - 09/01/2011
09/01/2011 - 10/01/2011
10/01/2011 - 11/01/2011
11/01/2011 - 12/01/2011
12/01/2011 - 01/01/2012
01/01/2012 - 02/01/2012
02/01/2012 - 03/01/2012
03/01/2012 - 04/01/2012
04/01/2012 - 05/01/2012
05/01/2012 - 06/01/2012
06/01/2012 - 07/01/2012
07/01/2012 - 08/01/2012
08/01/2012 - 09/01/2012
09/01/2012 - 10/01/2012
10/01/2012 - 11/01/2012
11/01/2012 - 12/01/2012
12/01/2012 - 01/01/2013
01/01/2013 - 02/01/2013
02/01/2013 - 03/01/2013
03/01/2013 - 04/01/2013
04/01/2013 - 05/01/2013
05/01/2013 - 06/01/2013
06/01/2013 - 07/01/2013
07/01/2013 - 08/01/2013
08/01/2013 - 09/01/2013
09/01/2013 - 10/01/2013
10/01/2013 - 11/01/2013
11/01/2013 - 12/01/2013
12/01/2013 - 01/01/2014
01/01/2014 - 02/01/2014
02/01/2014 - 03/01/2014
03/01/2014 - 04/01/2014
04/01/2014 - 05/01/2014
05/01/2014 - 06/01/2014
06/01/2014 - 07/01/2014
07/01/2014 - 08/01/2014
08/01/2014 - 09/01/2014
09/01/2014 - 10/01/2014
10/01/2014 - 11/01/2014
11/01/2014 - 12/01/2014
12/01/2014 - 01/01/2015
01/01/2015 - 02/01/2015
02/01/2015 - 03/01/2015
03/01/2015 - 04/01/2015
04/01/2015 - 05/01/2015
05/01/2015 - 06/01/2015
06/01/2015 - 07/01/2015
07/01/2015 - 08/01/2015
08/01/2015 - 09/01/2015
09/01/2015 - 10/01/2015
10/01/2015 - 11/01/2015
11/01/2015 - 12/01/2015
12/01/2015 - 01/01/2016
01/01/2016 - 02/01/2016
02/01/2016 - 03/01/2016
03/01/2016 - 04/01/2016
04/01/2016 - 05/01/2016
05/01/2016 - 06/01/2016
06/01/2016 - 07/01/2016
07/01/2016 - 08/01/2016
08/01/2016 - 09/01/2016
09/01/2016 - 10/01/2016
10/01/2016 - 11/01/2016
11/01/2016 - 12/01/2016
12/01/2016 - 01/01/2017
01/01/2017 - 02/01/2017
02/01/2017 - 03/01/2017
03/01/2017 - 04/01/2017
04/01/2017 - 05/01/2017
05/01/2017 - 06/01/2017
06/01/2017 - 07/01/2017
07/01/2017 - 08/01/2017
08/01/2017 - 09/01/2017
09/01/2017 - 10/01/2017
10/01/2017 - 11/01/2017
11/01/2017 - 12/01/2017
12/01/2017 - 01/01/2018
01/01/2018 - 02/01/2018
02/01/2018 - 03/01/2018
03/01/2018 - 04/01/2018
04/01/2018 - 05/01/2018
05/01/2018 - 06/01/2018
06/01/2018 - 07/01/2018
07/01/2018 - 08/01/2018
08/01/2018 - 09/01/2018
09/01/2018 - 10/01/2018
10/01/2018 - 11/01/2018
11/01/2018 - 12/01/2018
12/01/2018 - 01/01/2019
01/01/2019 - 02/01/2019
02/01/2019 - 03/01/2019
03/01/2019 - 04/01/2019
04/01/2019 - 05/01/2019
05/01/2019 - 06/01/2019
06/01/2019 - 07/01/2019
07/01/2019 - 08/01/2019
08/01/2019 - 09/01/2019
09/01/2019 - 10/01/2019
10/01/2019 - 11/01/2019
11/01/2019 - 12/01/2019
12/01/2019 - 01/01/2020
01/01/2020 - 02/01/2020
02/01/2020 - 03/01/2020
03/01/2020 - 04/01/2020
04/01/2020 - 05/01/2020
05/01/2020 - 06/01/2020
06/01/2020 - 07/01/2020
07/01/2020 - 08/01/2020
08/01/2020 - 09/01/2020
09/01/2020 - 10/01/2020
10/01/2020 - 11/01/2020
11/01/2020 - 12/01/2020
12/01/2020 - 01/01/2021
02/01/2021 - 03/01/2021
03/01/2021 - 04/01/2021
04/01/2021 - 05/01/2021
05/01/2021 - 06/01/2021
06/01/2021 - 07/01/2021
07/01/2021 - 08/01/2021
08/01/2021 - 09/01/2021
09/01/2021 - 10/01/2021
10/01/2021 - 11/01/2021
11/01/2021 - 12/01/2021
12/01/2021 - 01/01/2022
01/01/2022 - 02/01/2022
02/01/2022 - 03/01/2022
03/01/2022 - 04/01/2022
04/01/2022 - 05/01/2022
05/01/2022 - 06/01/2022
06/01/2022 - 07/01/2022
07/01/2022 - 08/01/2022
08/01/2022 - 09/01/2022
09/01/2022 - 10/01/2022
10/01/2022 - 11/01/2022
11/01/2022 - 12/01/2022
12/01/2022 - 01/01/2023
01/01/2023 - 02/01/2023
02/01/2023 - 03/01/2023
03/01/2023 - 04/01/2023
04/01/2023 - 05/01/2023
05/01/2023 - 06/01/2023

Powered by Blogger