"Flight" - directed by Robert Zemeckis
It is abundantly clear from the very first frame of "Flight" that this is not going to be another "Forrest Gump" from director Robert Zemeckis.
There is full frontal nudity in a scene in a hotel room that has clearly been the venue for a long night of sexual activity and excessive drug and alcohol taking.
The fact that it is Denzel Washington looking pudgy and hungover in the middle of this scene that sets the tone straight away.
We are next introduced to Nicole (Kelly Reilly) who is trying to score some drugs from a man who wants her to appear in a porn flick as payment.
This is a movie for adult audiences - it becomes clear very quickly.
The dark and serious tone was hinted at in the nicely cut trailers for this film about a pilot (Washington) with an alcohol and drug problem who nevertheless saves the lives of dozens of people when his aircraft crashes.
The plot poses an obvious question...
Does it matter that he had alcohol and drugs in his system given that he displayed incredible skill and defied the odds to save an aeroplane full of people?
Couldn't the authorities just ground him and drop any potential charges in recognition of his heroism?
Firstly there are several parties looking to shift blame from themselves so in a lot of ways pilot Whip Whitaker is a pawn in a larger game.
More importantly this movie is much more concerned with the issue of alcoholism as to how it affects Whip as man rather than as a pilot.
Rest assured that "Flight" is not another dull disease of the week style movie though.
It might flirt with cliche on occasion but it doesn't take too many easy choices and isn't interested in easy answers either.
Oscar nominated Denzel Washington has played washed up men and drunks before ("Man On Fire", "Training Day") but this is a role grounded in a recognisable reality.
His Whip could live next door to any of us.
Watching him waking up with a naked flight attendant and immediately lighting the first of many cigarettes and draining the last dregs from an hours open beer bottle is an ugly thing.
Seeing him right afterwards in his pilots uniform boarding the aeroplane in which he will fly 106 people across the country is deeply worrying.
Part of me was looking forward to the jet airliner crash.
It's the film fan in me- not the sadist.
Robert Zemeckis has always been brilliant with special effects.
Obviously "Forrest Gump", "Back to the Future" and "Contact" are loaded with effects sequences but often his effects are not noticeable as such.
He has subtly used CGI to pull off impossible shots such as the truly amazing reverse mirror sequence with Jena Malone in "Contact" or the bath tub angle shot of Michelle Pfeiffer in the massively underrated chiller "What Lies Beneath".
With "Flight" it is the airliner breaking up, plummeting into a nose dive, rolling and then crashing that he saves his effects bag of tricks for.
Correctly he is quite restrained and as good as the sequence is it never overpowers the movie.
Zemeckis doesn't even show it to us in full until much later choosing instead to give us Whip's experience of the event.
i.e - blacked out with the blanks filled in by hospital visitors and tv news reports.
One such visitor is old friend and now pilots union rep Charlie (Bruce Greenwood).
It is Charlie with the assistance of lawyer Hugh (Don Cheadle) who will attempt to guide Whip through the massive spotlight he finds shining on himself as the full details of the flight and his state become known.
It is here that the movie truly becomes about alcoholism and it may be one of the finest studies of a man fighting the bottle I have seen.
By choosing not to guide us too much in how we should feel about Whip and allowing us to make our own minds up about him it provides a greater wallop when he struggles to free himself from the bottles draw.
There is a superb section in which Whip is tucked into a hotel room with a guard on the door so that he continues to avoid drinking in order to perform at the hearing the next day.
Zemeckis handles this perfectly.
We sense the struggle and are with him as he eats his meal and goes through his files late into the night.
I just wanted him to go to sleep and ignore that knock that he hears.
Nicole, the recovering drug addict provides a nice parallel to whip.
Kelly Reilly will be familiar to fans of the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes movies.
Reilly is a stunningly pretty woman and makes for an interesting love interest.
Nicole is turning her life around and after commencing a relationship with Whip needs him to do likewise.
He has the support of at least three well intentioned people who truly care about him but it is the old story- he must decide to help himself.
It is an often painful ride watching his struggle but one that is well worth it.
It employs a couple of tired tropes in having him rescue Nicole from the sleazy attentions of her landlord (Marisa Tomei's younger brother Adam) and in having his drug dealer (a HUGE John Goodman) a Rastafarian striped bag toting Lebowski-esque funny man.
Not to worry- there is plenty else that works.
Gorgeous "My Name Is Earl" star Nadine Velazquez is very good as the similarly addiction inflicted flight attendant "Katerina".
Her opening scene full frontal nudity will no doubt be a talking point but she deserves more attention for her work in the scenes aboard the aircraft.
Typically solid support in the acting stakes is provided by veterans Bruce Greenwood ("Barney's Version", "Star Trek"), Don Cheadle ("Iron Man 2", "Hotel Rwanda") and John Goodman with "The Hurt Locker's" Brian Geraghty proving as adept as ever at playing character's seriously physically wounded.
I find the endings of Robert Zemeckis movies to be close to perfect as often as I find them baffling.
Not in a 'what the hell happened?' way- in a 'why did he take that option?' way.
"Flight" finishes exactly where it should.
It doesn't outstay its welcome and it doesn't wrap up too neatly but it is a satisfying conclusion.
There is nothing as showy as say "Leaving Las Vegas" or "Fear in Loathing In Las Vegas" about this films portrayal of substance addiction but it provides a far more resonant study that I suspect will stay with me far longer.
Very good if you are in the right frame of mind.
There is full frontal nudity in a scene in a hotel room that has clearly been the venue for a long night of sexual activity and excessive drug and alcohol taking.
The fact that it is Denzel Washington looking pudgy and hungover in the middle of this scene that sets the tone straight away.
We are next introduced to Nicole (Kelly Reilly) who is trying to score some drugs from a man who wants her to appear in a porn flick as payment.
This is a movie for adult audiences - it becomes clear very quickly.
The dark and serious tone was hinted at in the nicely cut trailers for this film about a pilot (Washington) with an alcohol and drug problem who nevertheless saves the lives of dozens of people when his aircraft crashes.
The plot poses an obvious question...
Does it matter that he had alcohol and drugs in his system given that he displayed incredible skill and defied the odds to save an aeroplane full of people?
Couldn't the authorities just ground him and drop any potential charges in recognition of his heroism?
Firstly there are several parties looking to shift blame from themselves so in a lot of ways pilot Whip Whitaker is a pawn in a larger game.
More importantly this movie is much more concerned with the issue of alcoholism as to how it affects Whip as man rather than as a pilot.
 |
| Denzel Washington with Kelly Reilly |
It might flirt with cliche on occasion but it doesn't take too many easy choices and isn't interested in easy answers either.
Oscar nominated Denzel Washington has played washed up men and drunks before ("Man On Fire", "Training Day") but this is a role grounded in a recognisable reality.
His Whip could live next door to any of us.
Watching him waking up with a naked flight attendant and immediately lighting the first of many cigarettes and draining the last dregs from an hours open beer bottle is an ugly thing.
Seeing him right afterwards in his pilots uniform boarding the aeroplane in which he will fly 106 people across the country is deeply worrying.
Part of me was looking forward to the jet airliner crash.
It's the film fan in me- not the sadist.
Robert Zemeckis has always been brilliant with special effects.
Obviously "Forrest Gump", "Back to the Future" and "Contact" are loaded with effects sequences but often his effects are not noticeable as such.
He has subtly used CGI to pull off impossible shots such as the truly amazing reverse mirror sequence with Jena Malone in "Contact" or the bath tub angle shot of Michelle Pfeiffer in the massively underrated chiller "What Lies Beneath".
With "Flight" it is the airliner breaking up, plummeting into a nose dive, rolling and then crashing that he saves his effects bag of tricks for.
Correctly he is quite restrained and as good as the sequence is it never overpowers the movie.
Zemeckis doesn't even show it to us in full until much later choosing instead to give us Whip's experience of the event.
i.e - blacked out with the blanks filled in by hospital visitors and tv news reports.
 |
| (l-r) Bruce Greenwood, Don Cheadle and John Goodman |
It is Charlie with the assistance of lawyer Hugh (Don Cheadle) who will attempt to guide Whip through the massive spotlight he finds shining on himself as the full details of the flight and his state become known.
It is here that the movie truly becomes about alcoholism and it may be one of the finest studies of a man fighting the bottle I have seen.
By choosing not to guide us too much in how we should feel about Whip and allowing us to make our own minds up about him it provides a greater wallop when he struggles to free himself from the bottles draw.
There is a superb section in which Whip is tucked into a hotel room with a guard on the door so that he continues to avoid drinking in order to perform at the hearing the next day.
Zemeckis handles this perfectly.
We sense the struggle and are with him as he eats his meal and goes through his files late into the night.
I just wanted him to go to sleep and ignore that knock that he hears.
Nicole, the recovering drug addict provides a nice parallel to whip.
Kelly Reilly will be familiar to fans of the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes movies.
Reilly is a stunningly pretty woman and makes for an interesting love interest.
Nicole is turning her life around and after commencing a relationship with Whip needs him to do likewise.
He has the support of at least three well intentioned people who truly care about him but it is the old story- he must decide to help himself.
It is an often painful ride watching his struggle but one that is well worth it.
It employs a couple of tired tropes in having him rescue Nicole from the sleazy attentions of her landlord (Marisa Tomei's younger brother Adam) and in having his drug dealer (a HUGE John Goodman) a Rastafarian striped bag toting Lebowski-esque funny man.
Not to worry- there is plenty else that works.
 |
| Nadine Velazquez as Katerina and Tamara Tunie as Margaret |
Her opening scene full frontal nudity will no doubt be a talking point but she deserves more attention for her work in the scenes aboard the aircraft.
Typically solid support in the acting stakes is provided by veterans Bruce Greenwood ("Barney's Version", "Star Trek"), Don Cheadle ("Iron Man 2", "Hotel Rwanda") and John Goodman with "The Hurt Locker's" Brian Geraghty proving as adept as ever at playing character's seriously physically wounded.
I find the endings of Robert Zemeckis movies to be close to perfect as often as I find them baffling.
Not in a 'what the hell happened?' way- in a 'why did he take that option?' way.
"Flight" finishes exactly where it should.
It doesn't outstay its welcome and it doesn't wrap up too neatly but it is a satisfying conclusion.
There is nothing as showy as say "Leaving Las Vegas" or "Fear in Loathing In Las Vegas" about this films portrayal of substance addiction but it provides a far more resonant study that I suspect will stay with me far longer.
Very good if you are in the right frame of mind.
| Rated | R16 for profanity, full frontal nudity, theme and drug use |
| Running Time: | 139 minutes |
| Starring: |
| Denzel Washington | --- Whip Whitaker |
| Nadine Velazquez | --- Katerina Marquez |
| Kelly Reilly | --- Nicole |
| Bruce Greenwood | --- Charlie Anderson |
| James Badge Dale | --- Gaunt Young Man |
| Brian Geraghty | --- Ken Evans |
| Don Cheadle | --- Hugh Lang |
| Piers Morgan | --- Himself |
| Tamara Tunie | --- Margaret Thomason |
| Melissa Leo | --- Ellen Block |
| Peter Gerety | --- Avington Carr |
| Adam Tomei | --- Fran |
| Conor O'Neill | --- Kip |
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