Flight Review

Flight is a well-constructed film with a bizarre take-home message. It says that drink, drugs and reckless behavior can enable you to do great things.

Whip Whittaker (Denzel Washington) plays the world’s most amazing functional alcoholic. He can drink insane amounts of alcohol, run through grams of cocaine, entertain prostitutes all night long, and still manage to be the best pilot in the airline fleet. On a routine flight from Orlando to Atlanta, the plane Whip is piloting crashes. Nose down, full speed ahead, ground fast approaching, no hope for anyone to survive. Fortunately for everyone on board, Whip is still lit up like a Christmas tree from partying the night before and is able to pull off a miraculous maneuver. The plane still crashes, and six of the 102 passengers die, but Whip is labeled a hero for his excellent piloting skills. Without him at the controls, everyone on the plane would be dead. It turns out, however, that flying an airplane whilst drunk and high is frowned upon, even when your skills save almost everyone on board.

The ensuing investigation into the crash dives deeply into Whip’s behaviors leading up to the accident, and most of the film is a chronicle of Whip’s dangerous activities. I’m pretty sure that Flight wants us to sympathize with his troubles and make some big statements about the nature of alcoholics and alcoholism. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t quite come together. Whip’s character is unlikeable, since he’s either drunk or looking for his next fix for the entire film. We are sympathetic to his troubles, but it’s hard to root for the guy. He’s pretty much a punk. He says mean things to his girlfriend (Kelly Reilly), who is herself a recovering addict, downs twenty beers and a half bottle of vodka in a night, drives his car while swilling Budweiser on his way to see his dealer, and does all sorts of other despicable things.

But, he also only does great things when he’s drunk. Every good thing he ever did in his life was accomplished under the influence. In fact, he’s been able to do some incredible things when he dives heavily into drink and drugs. Rather than wishing he would get off the sauce, we instead hope he goes all in so that the “good” Whip can come out and do something special.

Drink up and do great things!

I don’t think that’s the message writer John Gatins and director Robert Zemeckis intended.

Robert Zemeckis returns to live-action directing after taking a brief hiatus in the motion-capture world. He finally got tired of fooling around with tech-heavy animated films such as The Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol, which were expensive and time-consuming to make and only mild critical and commercial successes. He shows with Flight that he is still a great director in the live-action realm. It looks great, is well constructed, and showcases great acting. Washington is great in the lead role as usual, John Goodman gives a humorous, over-the-top turn as Whip’s dealer and best friend, and Don Cheadle should be cast as a lawyer in every film ever. All of the components are here for a solid film, but the undercooked story undermines their efforts.

Flight is an almost film. It’s almost something special. It almost has a strong message about the dangers of alcoholism. It almost combines great acting and solid direction to be a quality film. Unfortunately, the pieces never quite fit into place as they should. What we are left with is a deep look at a flawed character whose only saving grace is that, sometimes, he can do some impressive things despite his major character flaw.

2.5 stars out of 5

Do you think Flight was more of a cautionary tale than me? Did you sympathize with Whip’s plight more than me? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter!