Flight (2012)

Absolutely Fantastic

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Flight is a great example of everything coming together- screenplay, characters, acting and special effects. This movie is about addiction and the main character who happens to be a pilot and a raging alcoholic. So bad is the situation that his wife has left him and his sons do not have an iota of respect for him. Also, he drinks on the plane- a plane he is piloting! The crash sequence is quite jarring and anyone knowing the work of Robert Zemeckis would know he is a master in creating realistic looking CGI sequences. This is a great scene but what follows is equally fascinating. The pilot is brought to the court in charge of manslaughter(he manages to save most but not everybody on board). Washington is great as the central character. Go watch flight to see a nuanced character study of a flawed individual.

FlightIt is completely base on a textbook formula of its genre and is overstretched in its initial stage, taking the character driven feature and star power for granted. The script doesn't have much to offer especially considering the amount of time it takes to reach a definite point; more than two hours is pushing it. Robert Zemeckis is no short on execution but the screenplay is the real culprit in here that never had enough crisp at first to make it on screen. As expected, Daniel Washington delivers on performance level but unfortunately isn't supported as was essential. It is short on technical aspects like sound department and editing which could have been a lot better. The primary reason why it fails to exceed or even match the expectations, is the anticipated impact that it fails to pitch on screen for the audience to care or at least be effected by the characters projected in here. Flight flies safely but lands off stage to an outcome that was visible far before it even hits the screen, making the whole process or journey redundant and exhausting especially when the makers weren't even convincing the viewers for a second look or something to think about.

Despite the safe and uninspiring title, 'Flight' is a surprisingly bold film that is unafraid of taking some big risks. This isn't your conventional, heart in mouth disaster thriller and, although it does contain the odd spell of suspense, it's actually more of a laid back drama and character study about a man battling his demons.The action is limited to only the first half an hour or so, after which Denzel Washington's character becomes the focus of the film and the storyline develops into something unexpected, though still enjoyable. As a character study, it's very well executed and never forces one feeling or another about the lead character, allowing the audience to make their own mind up. 'Flight' takes a lot on and not everything is totally clear in parts, but it's definitely worth watching.

A key function of a film based in the real world is 'plausibility'. If the characters you are watching do things that don't make sense, it compromises and spoils your enjoyment of the film as you can't really believe it any more. 'Flight' falls firmly into this category. Here are some examples:Whip's toxicology report is successfully rescinded by his lawyer on the basis that the hospital blood and hair test process used out of date and unchecked processes. All the other crew members had their samples tested at the same time, so why were they not rescinded too? Why did no-one in that huge conference room full of intelligent people question that?John Goodman's drug dealer character is (somehow) brought in to rescue Whip from his drunken stupor on the morning of the inquest, and the two people looking after Whip just stand by and watch as large quantities of drugs are consumed without even questioning what this will do to their client. Any normal person would go 'Hey! Won't this make him even worse?' Not only that but they then unquestioningly give him the $500 he demands, just happening to have that much cash on them of course.Whip shows absolutely no ill effects from all that drinking and drug taking. Every morning he looks fit and healthy again without the enormous hangover you would expect. He swigs vodka as he drives yet his driving seems fine. He is the epitomy of prefessionalism as he crash-lands the plane. Not only does this not seem that plausible but it is also not a good message to be sending out.People like his attorney are trying to help Whip ensure he is not prosecuted. Yet he keeps turning on them, shouting and swearing at them even though all they are doing is assisting him. Why on earth would he do that? He is not even drunk at the time. Just doesn't make sense, why bite the hand that is feeding you? It's just stupid.Whip is asked the question: 'in your opinion, did the stewardess drink the vodka?'. Simple question. The subsequent not answering, mumbling, looking away, asking for the question to be repeated etc charade was just ridiculous, no-one would do that as it so obviously implies some form of guilt. Then, instead of just saying "I don't know" (simple!) he suddenly confesses for no reason. Completely implausible. You could also question why the question was asked in the first place as it wasn't going to prove anything but that got subsumed by the ridiculous response that had me screaming at the screen at how daft it all was. It completely ruined what for me was already not a good film. And just to get the usual saccharine Hollywood ending where he serves his time, goes dry, re-unites with his family, and no doubt lives happily ever after.The film started well, but after the plane crashed it went down almost as fast and for me ended up as a bit of a smouldering wreckage. Frustrating.