An airline pilot (Denzel Washington) saves a flight from crashing, but an investigation into the malfunctions reveals something troubling.
Flight is Robert Zemeckis’ first live-action film since Cast Away and What Lies Beneath, which were both released in 2000, and is a welcome return to the big screen for one of FTN’s favourite directors.
The film kinda cheats us in the trailers because it focuses on the amazing plane crash, with gribbing realism, and going into this I thought we were going to be getting two hours of wonderful aircraft turbulance.
However, this isn’t what Flight centres on because what we get is Washington, as Whip Whitaker, in one of his meatiest roles in a long time, dealing with years of alcohol and substance abuse after it comes to a head thanks to the aforementioned disaster.
While the aircraft crash is amazing (and you will find your palms sweating as you grip the nearest object) it was the performance of Washington that stood out for me.
Here is an actor who deserves more recognition than he gets and with his performance in Flight we get to see why he is not only a big Hollywood star but also a wonderful actor.
While we initially can’t help but root for him to be universally praised for his aircraft heroics, Washington’s acting chops, as he decends further into his alcohol hell, begin to turn us against him despite what has gone on before.
His decision to ask former friends and colleagues to lie for him ahead of an accident hearing turns the tables on an actor who is forever playing ‘heroes’. However, our leading man’s performance is nothing short of superb as he turns the audience against him.
Wonderful supporting performances from Bruce Greenwood, John Goodman, Don Cheadle and Kelly Reilly add to the slow paced but gripping drama of one man’s fight against disaster both in the air and in his life.
While some people may find the pace of the film a little slow I for one thought the script was just perfect with our leading man producing one of the performances of his career as he deals with a subject close to the hearts of many of us.
This is one film I highly recommend.
Flight hits cinemas screens in the UK on February 1.
4 out of 5 Nerds
4 out of 5 nerds
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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