Flight Review

2.5 Stars

Flight is the story of commuter airline pilot Whip Whitfield (Denzel Washington).  He's good at his job, and a fateful trip from Orlando to Atlanta would prove just how good he is.  Shortly after takeoff, he maneuvers the plane through some extremely rough turbulence.  They think they're in the clear, but an apparent plane malfunction sends them into a nosedive.  Whip has no choice but to flip the plane and crash land in the closest field he can find.  He wakes in the hospital and finds that though 8 people on the plane have perished, he is solely responsible for saving the lives of everyone else with a move that no other pilot could duplicate.  However, after a routine blood test for this situation, it seems there was alcohol in his system and an investigation is underway to determine the actual cause of the crash.  Flight is the story of Whitfield fighting for his life both personally and professionally.

 Well, I certainly didn't see that coming.  The preview basically shows the first twenty minutes of the movie in which pilot Whip Whitfield (Washington) heroically saves the lives of most of the passengers on his flight.  The rest of the movie is about his full-blown alcoholism and drug addiction.  The FAA hires an attorney who agrees that the cause of the crash was a mechanical issue and that Whitfield is indeed the hero, and no one else could have done what he did.  All he has to do is stay clean and sober during the investigation and everything will be fine.  But he is such an addict that he can't and his personal and professional lives are ruined in the process.  I didn't get that from the preview and it was two hours of drinking and drugs.  It was often slow and borderline boring, completely different that the heart-pounding adventure the preview leads me to believe this movie would be.  Denzel's performance earned him an Oscar Nomination for best leading actor, but I didn't think it was that stellar.  He is always great, so maybe I have higher standards and expectations for him to warrant an Oscar nod.  And Denzel is up against Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables, Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook and Joaquin Phoenix in The Master.  I'm sorry, but there is no way his performance should be in this category with these other performances.  The preview for Flight was misleading and ultimately made the movie a disappointment.  It will definitely not be making it to my personal collection.  So what movie will be on my mind next?  We shall see.

Flight Preview

Flight is the story of commuter airline pilot Whip Whitfield (Denzel Washington).  He's good at his job, and a fateful trip from Orlando to Atlanta would prove just how good he is.  Shortly after takeoff, he maneuvers the plane through some extremely rough turbulence.  They think they're in the clear, but an apparent plane malfunction sends them into a nosedive.  Whip has no choice but to flip the plane and crash land in the closest field he can find.  He wakes in the hospital and finds that though 8 people on the plane have perished, he is solely responsible for saving the lives of everyone else with a move that no other pilot could duplicate.  However, after a routine blood test for this situation, it seems there was alcohol in his system and an investigation is underway to determine the actual cause of the crash.  Flight is the story of Whitfield fighting for his life both personally and professionally.

The preview shows a dramatic, spectacular crash landing in which pilot Whip Whitfield inverts a commuter airplane in order to save the passengers on board.  Whitfield awakes in the hospital and is informed that an investigation into the crash has been initiated and alcohol was found in his blood.  Whitfield's friend Harling Mays (John Goodman) is there to visit him and assure him that he's a hero.  I'm not 100% sure what to expect from this movie.  The tragic plane ride is the majority of the preview, so one would assume that most of the movie would be centered around the flight and what made it crash.  And the clips of that flight look absolutely amazing.  And it's Denzel Washington and John Goodman.  How can you go wrong with those two heavy hitters in the lineup?  I loved them in their last co-starring picture Fallen.  My concern is that the movie is over two hours long.  How much of that can really be watching one flight come crashing down?  How much of that is investigating the crash?  How much of that is about pilot Whitfield?  I'm hoping it's a gripping mystery that keeps me on the edge of my seat.  So I'm predicting a hesitant but hopeful 4 stars for this movie.  Am I right?  We shall see.