"Flight" movie review by Ben Kenber

The advertisements for Robert Zemeckis’ “Flight” are actually quite deceptive. It almost looks to be a mystery of sorts as we wonder if Denzel Washington’s character of Whip Whitaker was drunk or not when he crash landed the commercial airplane he was flying. Whip ended up saving a lot of lives, but is the company that owns the airline he flies for trying to make him take the blame so that they can reduce their own loses? Looking at the commercials and the trailers for “Flight,” it looked as if the film was being sold as something relatively easy cinematic affair. However, it turns to be something far more complex and ambiguous than what Hollywood is used to putting out.

“Flight” isn’t a mystery at all but instead a character study about a man who is overwhelmed by his addictions and has yet to be honest not only with others but most of all with himself. From the start we can see that Captain Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) is one messed up dude. Waking up in his hotel room after an evening tryst with stewardess Katerina Marquez (Nadine Velazquez), we see him drink some beer, smoke a cigarette, argue with his ex-wife over their son’s school tuition and then snort some cocaine. All of this happens before he puts on his uniform and heads over to his plane to get ready for takeoff.

Whip clearly has no business flying a plane under those conditions, but fly it he does. When a malfunction suddenly forces it to go into a vertical dive, he manages to roll over to where he’s flying upside down, just long enough to stabilize the descent and land it in an open field. Next thing Whip knows, he is waking up in a hospital room only to discover that the real nightmare for him is about to begin.

It says a lot about the star power of Washington and Zemeckis that they could get a movie like “Flight” made today. Made for only $30 million, far less than what it cost Zemeckis to make “The Polar Express” or “A Christmas Carol,” this is almost like one of those character driven dramas from the 1970s in that it gives us a main character who is not particularly likable, and yet we are compelled to follow him all the way to the movie’s end.

What I loved about the screenplay by John Gatins is how it revels in the ambiguity of its characters and the situations they are stuck in. We know Whip was far from sober when flying that plane, and yet we cannot help but wonder if his heroic act can somehow excuse his personal sins. His lawyer Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle, terrific as always) tells him at one point that ten other pilots were placed in flight simulators which recreated the event and they ended up killing everybody on board. But there is one big difference between Whip and all those pilots: they were all sober.

We can always count on Washington to give some of the best performances in movies today, and his work in “Flight” is unsurprisingly superb. It’s also the riskiest role he has played in a long time as his character is far from likable and apparently determined to drive everyone away who tries to reach him. Heck, Detective Alonzo Harris from “Training Day” almost seems like a nicer person than Whip, and he tried to have his partner killed! But we always find ourselves rooting for Washington no matter what character he plays, and he does an exceedingly brave job in uncovering this character’s wounded humanity for all to see.

I do have to say, however, that I am amazed at the enormous amount of alcohol Whip consumes throughout the movie. Any normal person would most likely have experienced liver failure long before the story reaches its final act.

Much has been said about how this is Zemeckis’ first live action movie since the year 2000 when he made “Cast Away” and “What Lies Beneath.” But what people should really take note of is that this is the R-rated movie he has directed since “Used Cars,” and that came out in 1980. Having made so many films that were largely geared towards the whole family, it’s tempting to think he was no longer in a position to helm one with such complex characters and issues.

But with “Flight,” Zemeckis does some of his most memorable work behind the camera in some time. There are moments where he paints some dramatic strokes that are broader than they need to be, but he never once shies away from the ambiguous nature and fascinating questions which Gatins’ screenplay elicits. He also does a brilliant job in one crucial scene involving a minibar in a hotel room, and the suspense of it had the audience I saw the movie with absolutely enthralled.

And of course, he stages a very frightening plane crash that tops the one he put together in “Cast Away.” Even from the safety of a movie theater, that sequence is truly harrowing to sit through and its images hang over the rest of “Flight” like an ominous shadow.

Another superb performance comes from Kelly Reilly who plays Nicole Maggen, a former photographer who is trying to free herself from the throes of a nasty heroin habit. Reilly may be best remembered for her role in the deeply unsettling horror film “Eden Lake,” and her portrayal here feels very honest in how she presents an addict’s day to day struggle to stay clean.

There’s also a number of other terrific supporting performances to be found here from actors like John Goodman who looks to be channeling Jeff Bridges’ Dude character from “The Big Lebowski” (a movie he coincidentally was also in) for his role of Harling Mays. Goodman provides the movie with its needed scenes of comic support, and he proves to be as entertaining here as he was in “Argo.”

Bruce Greenwood, who increasingly lends the movies he appears in a strong integrity, is also really good as Whip’s longtime friend Charlie Anderson. Also showing up in a small but pivotal role is the great Melissa Leo whose sweet voice can’t hide her relentless pursuit of the truth as FAA investigator Ellen Block.

I didn’t think I’d see another movie in 2012 other than Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” that offered very complex characters in ambiguous situations. As a result, “Flight” turned out to be a big surprise for me as it challenges viewers in ways a strong dramatic film should. It offers us yet another great Denzel Washington performance, and it reminds us of what a terrific director Robert Zemeckis can be regardless of whether or not the characters in his films are computer generated.

* * * ½ out of * * * *