In many ways, Flight is not an easy movie to watch. It features a plane crash sequence so harrowing and genuine-feeling that even the most seasoned flyers might find themselves tensing up in their seats. It showcases the downward spiral of a charming, talented individual who has used his charm and talent to hide his character flaws for a very long time, both from himself and from the world around him. It doesn’t flinch from moral ambiguities and difficult questions about heroism, culpability, and the need for someone to pay when lives are lost in an accident, regardless of how many lives were actually saved.
But most of all, it comes at you like many other stories about the fear, denial, and mistakes that are a part of alcoholism and addiction. Does having Denzel Washington in the lead and director Robert Zemeckis at the helm make all the difference in piloting this morality tale away from after-school special and Lifetime movie territory? Well, that depends.
The first time we see Washington’s Capt. Whip Whitaker, he’s waking up in an Orlando hotel room, still drunk after an all-night alcohol bender and bedroom romp with a crew mate (Nadine Velazquez) an hour before their 9am flight to Atlanta. After snorting a few choice lines of white powder, however, he’s calm, cleaned up, and cool as a winter morning stepping on board the plane in his uniform and aviator shades. Whip knows he’s very good at what he does and he’s been doing it all his life, which just means drinking before a flight or even drinking during one isn’t a big deal. It’s just another day … until it isn’t, and Whip’s plane carrying 97 passengers and five crew members including himself is stuck in an uncontrollable dive in the skies above Atlanta’s suburbs. His rookie co-pilot panics, his passengers scream and his flight attendants do what they can to keep their charges strapped in and safe, but it’s up to Whip to save the day, and miraculously, he does. He gets the plane down with a minimal loss of life, and as he recovers from his injuries he’s hailed by the media as a hero.
But people did die, and someone has to be held accountable.
Whip knows what the audience knows, that the plane went down due to mechanical failure, that it literally fell apart in mid-air, and he believes that no one else could do what he did to get those passengers on the ground safely. That should be more important than the fact that he was drunk and high on cocaine while he was flying the plane, shouldn’t it, that all those lives were saved? He was in control the whole time, just as he’s in control of his drinking and substance use, and thus all that shouldn’t matter, right?
Whip’s old Navy buddy and union rep, Charlie (Bruce Greenwood, in a rare non-villain role) is in his corner. His hotshot attorney (Don Cheadle) thinks he’s a scumbag, but is awe of what Whip pulled off in a nightmare situation, and is confident of his ability to keep Whip out of jail. And the pretty junkie he meets while in the hospital (Kelly Reilly) and gallantly saves from a beating from her slumlord wants to help him get cleaned up while helping herself stay clean.
All these people want to help him. But Whip doesn’t need help. He’s in control. He can stop whenever he wants. Right. Sound familiar?
Hollywood has produced lots of films about drug and alcohol addiction, about the fear, guilt, and denial that are a part of everyday life, about the relationships that are damaged and the caring people that get pushed away. Flight only partly succeeds in separating itself from the rest of the genre. For as captivating as Washington’s performance is here — and it is his most nuanced, his most risky since he won an Oscar for Training Day — and as well constructed and executed the film is thanks to Zemeckis’ undiminished vision and skill, it relies too much on the tropes and plotlines made familiar by other films about alcohol and addiction. The part where the addict is sitting in an AA meeting and everyone’s listening and engaged with the speaker except for the addict, who looks bored and annoyed? Check. The scene where the caring love interest tells the addict that he needs help and he responds by lashing out in the ugliest possible way? Check. The scene where the addict looks scornfully at the open bottle in his hands, recognizing it for it is at last, closing it and putting it down? Yup, it’s here, too.
If these tried-and-true scenes and their use annoy you as a film viewer, then it’s likely that Flight‘s strengths — Washington’s performance, which will most likely earn him Oscar consideration again, as well as those of Greenwood, Cheadle, and a hilarious John Goodman as Whip’s drug dealer, chief enabler and, believe it or not, best friend — will be lost on you. If, however, you can forget for 2 hours plus that you saw Days of Wine and Roses, Clean and Sober, or Leaving Las Vegas, then you may very well enjoy and appreciate what the filmmakers serve up here.
One thing is certain, though: you’ll need to watch this one in a theater or at home. There’s absolutely no way you’ll ever see this film shown as in-flight entertainment on a plane.
Score: 3 out of 5
Flight
Starring Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, and Melissa Leo. Directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Running Time: 138 minutes
Rated R for drug and alcohol abuse, language, sexuality/nudity and an intense action sequence.