FLIGHT
***
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Screenwriter: John Gatins
Principal cast:
Denzel Washington
Nadine Velazquez
Brian Geraghty
Kell Reilly
Melissa Leo
John Goodman
Country: USA/United Arab Emirates
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 128 mins.
Australian release date: 31 January 2013
Imagine being on a routine 55-minute flight between a couple of major cities when the jet’s hydraulics fail and all hell breaks loose. This is the storyline in Robert Zemeckis’s latest action drama Flight, starring Denzel Washington in a role that is one of his best and has earned him a Best Actor nomination in this year’s Oscars. He plays a character that many in Hollywood would shun - an alcoholic, drug abusing commercial pilot! OMG!
The film opens with Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington, two-time Academy Award winner for Best Actor for Training Day and Glory) imbibing only minutes before he has to head off to pilot a 9 a.m. flight to Atlanta. The scene is set as his flight attendant girlfriend Katerina (Nadine Velazquez), sashays around the hotel room wearing her best birthday suit and doing a duet with Whip using booze and Columbian marching powder - they need it because they don’t have time for breakfast!
The plane takes off in a hideous storm and Whip manages to keep everything under control even though his co-pilot Ken (Brian Geraghty) is suspicious of Whip’s capabilities. These scenes will have you on the edge of your seat but wait, there’s worse to come, and when it does it is totally believable and absolutely gut-wrenching. When an investigation is held to examine the events that have taken place on board, Denzel takes ‘flight’. He is simply superb as he goes deeper into a dark hole that is swirling with alcohol and drug abuse. He has a broken marriage, a broken relationship with his son, and a broken career, even though to many he is a hero.
Flight is a very watchable study in alcoholism - the title refers as much to the flight from the truth that all alcoholics go through as much as it is about the flight itself. The film does get a bit weird in parts, especially the relationship Whip has with a recovering junkie, Nicole (Kelly Reilly), but it all works in the end. Melissa Leo delivers a brilliant performance as the head courtroom prosecutor, Ellen Block, a role that she makes the absolute most of considering it is relatively minor. Another highlight is the always excellent John Goodman, playing a local drug dealer. The beauty of this film is that it works on many levels. Although it is a bit drawn out and a tad mawkish in parts, it is still a good yarn and worth it for the performances, the retro soundtrack and the thrilling plane crash.
Screenwriter: John Gatins
Principal cast:
Denzel Washington
Nadine Velazquez
Brian Geraghty
Kell Reilly
Melissa Leo
John Goodman
Country: USA/United Arab Emirates
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 128 mins.
Australian release date: 31 January 2013
Imagine being on a routine 55-minute flight between a couple of major cities when the jet’s hydraulics fail and all hell breaks loose. This is the storyline in Robert Zemeckis’s latest action drama Flight, starring Denzel Washington in a role that is one of his best and has earned him a Best Actor nomination in this year’s Oscars. He plays a character that many in Hollywood would shun - an alcoholic, drug abusing commercial pilot! OMG!
The film opens with Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington, two-time Academy Award winner for Best Actor for Training Day and Glory) imbibing only minutes before he has to head off to pilot a 9 a.m. flight to Atlanta. The scene is set as his flight attendant girlfriend Katerina (Nadine Velazquez), sashays around the hotel room wearing her best birthday suit and doing a duet with Whip using booze and Columbian marching powder - they need it because they don’t have time for breakfast!
The plane takes off in a hideous storm and Whip manages to keep everything under control even though his co-pilot Ken (Brian Geraghty) is suspicious of Whip’s capabilities. These scenes will have you on the edge of your seat but wait, there’s worse to come, and when it does it is totally believable and absolutely gut-wrenching. When an investigation is held to examine the events that have taken place on board, Denzel takes ‘flight’. He is simply superb as he goes deeper into a dark hole that is swirling with alcohol and drug abuse. He has a broken marriage, a broken relationship with his son, and a broken career, even though to many he is a hero.
Flight is a very watchable study in alcoholism - the title refers as much to the flight from the truth that all alcoholics go through as much as it is about the flight itself. The film does get a bit weird in parts, especially the relationship Whip has with a recovering junkie, Nicole (Kelly Reilly), but it all works in the end. Melissa Leo delivers a brilliant performance as the head courtroom prosecutor, Ellen Block, a role that she makes the absolute most of considering it is relatively minor. Another highlight is the always excellent John Goodman, playing a local drug dealer. The beauty of this film is that it works on many levels. Although it is a bit drawn out and a tad mawkish in parts, it is still a good yarn and worth it for the performances, the retro soundtrack and the thrilling plane crash.