Movie Review: Flight

Despite what the commercials and marketing campaign might lead you to believe, Robert Zemeckis' latest film Flight is more an emotional roller coaster, than a literal/exciting one. I sat in amazement as three separate families abandoned ship during the first ten minutes of the film. Parents dragged their kids out by the arm as the children drank from their x-large tubs of soda and took one last glance at the screen. I don't see the big deal. I mean, if a kid's gotta see a naked woman doing drugs, it might as well be Nadine Velazquez on a giant screen right?

Since kid's love pilots and action flicks and middle aged mothers love Denzel, they must have thought Flight was fun for the whole family...despite the film's R rating. Well they were wrong. The first twenty-five minutes of the film aka, the place crash from hell sequence, is a total heart pounding dose of onscreen carnage. It's some of the scariest shit you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. But the rest of the movie, like the remaining two hours, is a serious take on addiction and personal relationships. It's an adult movie basically, with drugs, sex, nudity, cancer jokes and porn references abound.

I need a another line!

The best thing  Flight has going for it is Denzel Washington. I've never seen him in a role like this before. He's played a heroic slave (Glory), Malcom X,  a cop/soldier (Courage Under Fire, Crimson Tide, The Siege, Inside Man, Fallen, etc. etc.) and a villain (Training Day, American Gangster), but I've never seen him so exposed and vulnerable as here (except maybe Glory, that flogging scene...c'mon). His character in Flight, Capt. "Whip" Whitaker is a mess. He's a divorced drunk, who's family and very grasp on reality has slipped through his fingers. He spends his off time banging sexy flight attendants (thank you Zemeckis!), getting plastered then doing a few lines of cocaine to bring him back to speed before he's off to work...flying passenger planes. It's crazy but he just so happens to be like the best pilot in the universe who can pilot a rouge jet upside down all while nursing a hangover.

The film is about the investigation of the plane crash and about Whip battling his alcoholism before it destroys both his personal and professional life. Despite it's epic length, it's a pretty engrossing film. I wouldn't say entertaining, because who likes watching a drunk stumble around for over two hours. Zemeckis is still an ace at tugging at his audience's heartstrings, and crafts an awesome soundtrack for the movie as well. I wish there was more John Goodman and his wise ass drug dealer role (because he's basically paying homage to The Big Lebowski) but what are you gonna do? Overall I'd say Flight is a good movie, a solid makes you think type drama. Kudos to Denzel, quite the performance there sir.





*NOTE*
Robert Zemeckis is back! Well, back to making people movies that is. Zemeckis spent the last decade cranking out CGI/motion capture flicks like The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol. His last human movie, i.e., his last film I watched, was Cast Away...and that was in 2000!

For those of you who don't know, Zemeckis is the man behind the holy trinity of Back to the Future (The whole series!), Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forrest Gump. These films basically defined my childhood and have earned Zemeckis a lifetime badge of honor/pass. He could start shooting 3D motion capture Nazi propaganda films and he'd still walk on water in my book.