Movie review: Flight

Movie Review: Flight

Flight; Robert Zemeckis, director; Paramount; 2012

Starring Denzel Washington, Bruce Greenwood, Don Cheadle, Tamara Tunie, Nadine Velazquez

By GALE CADY WILLIAMS

Director Robert Zemeckis’ Oscar-nominated 2012 film Flight could have been just another action-on-a-jet movie, like many that have gone before it, anchored by action hero stars such as Harrison Ford, Nicholas Cage, and Samuel L. Jackson. Much to the credit of star Denzel Washington and director Zemeckis, it is far better than that although, based on Zemeckis’ previous hits with the Back to the Future films, Forest Gump, and Cast Away, we could reasonably expect a film that is a top-level action movie entertainment. And in large part, it is that, but it is also far more.

Flight also marks what may be the very best performance in a career’s worth of outstanding performances by Denzel Washington, whose pilot character Whip Whitaker is a cocky, confident, high-performing, risk-taking, cocaine-snorting alcoholic superhero with a failed marriage, an angry teenaged son, and a bad history with women.

At first, we think this will be a high-octane action movie, although clues as to the ultimate nature of the film are laid in the opening scene. As the film opens, we watch Whip Whitaker and his sexual partner (Nadine Velazquez) wake up naked (in a surprisingly risqué sequence for Washington), hear him argue with his ex-wife, and watch him snort cocaine and drink from the hotel room mini bar before he suits up for his flight. We watch him in uniform as he walks that confident, cocky Denzel athlete’s walk down the sidewalk tunnel at the airport, and we know he’s in control even though we know he’s high. Because we’ve seen him get high, our fears for his well-being and that of his passengers are confirmed as we watch the plane piloted by Washington’s character hit a violent storm. Only through the pilot’s skill and audacity are the plane and its 104 passengers spared from death through a series of jet-fighter stunt moves Whip Whitaker makes, including flipping the plane upside down as terrified passengers scream in their seats, and parts begin to literally fall off the aging jet. Ultimately the plane’s landing gear totally fail, yet the pilot skillfully lands in a field near a church, causing the death of two crewmembers and two passengers, including a flight attendant who was the pilot’s date from the night before. The crash sequence is shot almost in real time, bringing viewers to the edge of their seats as we cheer for the pilot.

That’s the first half of the film.

The remainder of the film centers on how Washington’s character deals with the questions coming at him from the Federal Aviation Commission, fellow pilots, and the adulation from the public and attempts to confront and conquer his unacknowledged alcoholism. His airline hires a top-notch defense attorney (the always incredible Don Cheadle) who presents a case that could ultimately clear the pilot, even up against a tough interrogator from the FCC (Oscar winner Melissa Leo) in the trial that follows the crash.

I won’t give away how things unravel at the end, but I would have been very disappointed in Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis if the film had opted for a predictable ending. The final scene is a bit of a disappointment, given the quality of the rest of the film; it feels a bit tacked-on and false.

Denzel Washington’s face in the very emotional close-ups in the film reflects the actor’s skill in conveying layers of emotions that speak volumes for his character’s grief, remorse, and bitterness; if he doesn’t win this year’s Best Actor award, it will only be because Hugh Jackman broke our hearts in Les Miserables.
Performances worth noting here, in addition to Cheadle’s, are Bruce Greenwood as Whip’s longtime and loyal pilot friend, now a member of the FAC investigating team, and Tamara Tunie as Whip’s experienced flight attendant friend, Margaret.

Rating for this film (out of four stars): ✩✩✩✩