The movie Flight is a film you should fly to see. Denzel Washington is of course, nothing less than phenomenal. The nearly 58 year old sexy and suave actor, takes you on an emotional roller coaster in which he reveals nearly all, and by all I mean just short of his entire aging body. Will fans be turned off by this? I don’t think so. If I had to sum up his performance in one word it would be, “honest.”
The film begins with Captain Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) waking up with a beautiful and very naked flight attendant, Katerina (Nadine Velazquez). Their room is filled with an abundance of empty beer bottles, smoked cigarettes, pot, and cocaine. Whitaker takes a swig of some beer, does a quick line of coke to stabilize his hangover, finishes up a call from his angry ex-wife that wants more money for their son’s private school, then off to work the two go. They both work for the same airline, South Jet Airlines and today, they are on the same flight flying from Orland to Atlanta, Manifest: 102 souls. It’s obvious that Whip has flown in this horrible state in the past and his co-pilot seems very nervous having never worked with him before.
So the flight begins, with a torrential downpour, the plane gets up but not without an enormous amount of turbulence, the passengers and crew are very uneasy. What proceeds will likely be one of the motion picture industries most daunting plane crashes to date. For those that have a fear of flying, you will literally be terrified! I actually took a minute to get myself in the crash position. Unbelievably, Whip is nothing short of miraculous in his managing to get the plane down with only minimal casualties. He is, of course, in some serious trouble as I’m sure you can guess what subsequent blood testing reveals.
This is where Harling Mays (John Goodman) comes in, Whip’s slap happy, super sarcastic friend that is not only a drug/alcohol user himself, but also a provider. Goodman is great in his role, putting some laughter and lightness in this sometimes very intense film. While in the hospital, Whip happens to meet Nicole (Kelly Reilly) a troubled young lady with her own drug demons. They eventually form a tremulous relationship, both of them sharing the ills of addiction. In the meantime Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood), an old friend of Captain Whitaker and now prominent figure head of the pilot union, and Hugh Land (Don Cheadle), lawyer to the union, they both try to get Whip in a sober state to handle the impending questioning regarding the details of the crash.
Denzel Washington in “Flight.” Photo by Photo credit: Courtesy of Paramo – © 2012 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
Where the film lost points with me was the missed opportunity to give the story much more meaning. There was such a subliminal undercurrent pertaining to the influence of God, or everything happening for a reason, nothing in life happening from chance; from the plane clipping a church steeple, to the importance of getting the description of the crash being labeled an, “act of god.” Where the film fell short was in a scene with the copilot in the hospital, making the straight-laced co-pilot out to be a “Jesus freak” and by freak, I mean it in the most unflattering, offensive way. Personally I hated this scene, the depiction wasn’t necessary, and for me it took the story line in a direction that didn’t fit the road you were already on.
All and all, Flight is about addiction. Denzel Washington plays his role superbly as a man living in the affliction of drug and alcohol abuse. As for the renowned director Robert Zemeckis, we can safely say that he hits a “fly” ball out of the park with this one.
Betsy Cizek
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