Flight
If you weren't afraid of flying before, you may be after this movie. This time around, I'll be discussing Robert Zemeckis' return to live action films with Flight. So let's get on this plane to Heaven and see where it takes us.
Our story begins with Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington), a pilot for a nearby airport, getting ready for his day by doing drugs and getting drunk. Yeah, not really the best pilot in the world is he? As he arrives to his job, we cut away to see a girl named Nicole (Kelly Reilly) getting some drugs from her drug dealer and eventually passing out on the floor. Get used to seeing that because there's a lot more drugs to go before this movie ends. Eventually, the plane that Whitaker pilots takes off into a stormy cloud. He decides to steer it into a clearing to avoid anything bad happening. However, once he reaches the clearing, the plane begins to malfunction and begins to go down. Panic spreads through the plane, but eventually, Whitaker crash lands the plane into an open field, only killing 6 people (2 employees and 4 passengers) out of the 102 on board. He's proclaimed a hero by many, but others want to know what really happened. So now Whitaker has to protect himself while also trying to find another reason for why the plane malfunctioned.
So let's get started with the plane scene. It's really emotional and frightening. It starts off like a normal day, but quickly turns to Hell once it malfunctions. The plane twists in a complete 360 and you see everything from both the pilot's and passenger's point of view. Now, I've never been flying before, but this scene alone made not want to go flying for a long time. As the scene keeps going, the fear rises with each passing second. Now onto the characters. Everyone is so depressing in this film, but it's in a good way. Everyone has a reason for why they're depressed and they all make you feel bad for them. Even the comic relief character, Harling Mays (John Goodman), is dark sometimes. Speaking of Mays, he's hilarious. He always shows up right when things are getting a bit too depressing just to lighten things up with his humor. While he is Whitaker's drug dealer, he still manages to be more of a best friend than anything.
Now onto the bad stuff, but there's not much. If I had to pick the major problem with this film, it's the HEAVY emphasis on religion. Every 5 minutes, there's a mention of God. Sometimes it makes sense and other times it doesn't. For example, close to the end of the movie when Whitaker is going to be taken to court to be questioned about the malfunction, his attorney, Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle), informs him that the courtroom has added "Act of God" to their list of possible explanations for the crash. Now, I'm no lawyer, but when has "Act of God" ever been considered for an explanation for anything in court? Isn't it normally considered just a malfunction or accident? Then there's Nicole. She's such a useless character which is emphasized by the fact that a lot of the beginning of the movie is focused on her before she's thrown away and never seen again about 3/4 of the way through. She never does anything to actually affect Whitaker's life. She tries to help him, but he ignores everything she does. He doesn't get back with her. He doesn't marry her. She doesn't defend him in court. She does nothing. The movie would be no different with her removed.
So would I recommend seeing this movie? Of course. For an indie film and Zemeckis' first live action film in years, it's really fun to watch. It's definitely worth every award it wins.
Our story begins with Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington), a pilot for a nearby airport, getting ready for his day by doing drugs and getting drunk. Yeah, not really the best pilot in the world is he? As he arrives to his job, we cut away to see a girl named Nicole (Kelly Reilly) getting some drugs from her drug dealer and eventually passing out on the floor. Get used to seeing that because there's a lot more drugs to go before this movie ends. Eventually, the plane that Whitaker pilots takes off into a stormy cloud. He decides to steer it into a clearing to avoid anything bad happening. However, once he reaches the clearing, the plane begins to malfunction and begins to go down. Panic spreads through the plane, but eventually, Whitaker crash lands the plane into an open field, only killing 6 people (2 employees and 4 passengers) out of the 102 on board. He's proclaimed a hero by many, but others want to know what really happened. So now Whitaker has to protect himself while also trying to find another reason for why the plane malfunctioned.
So let's get started with the plane scene. It's really emotional and frightening. It starts off like a normal day, but quickly turns to Hell once it malfunctions. The plane twists in a complete 360 and you see everything from both the pilot's and passenger's point of view. Now, I've never been flying before, but this scene alone made not want to go flying for a long time. As the scene keeps going, the fear rises with each passing second. Now onto the characters. Everyone is so depressing in this film, but it's in a good way. Everyone has a reason for why they're depressed and they all make you feel bad for them. Even the comic relief character, Harling Mays (John Goodman), is dark sometimes. Speaking of Mays, he's hilarious. He always shows up right when things are getting a bit too depressing just to lighten things up with his humor. While he is Whitaker's drug dealer, he still manages to be more of a best friend than anything.
Now onto the bad stuff, but there's not much. If I had to pick the major problem with this film, it's the HEAVY emphasis on religion. Every 5 minutes, there's a mention of God. Sometimes it makes sense and other times it doesn't. For example, close to the end of the movie when Whitaker is going to be taken to court to be questioned about the malfunction, his attorney, Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle), informs him that the courtroom has added "Act of God" to their list of possible explanations for the crash. Now, I'm no lawyer, but when has "Act of God" ever been considered for an explanation for anything in court? Isn't it normally considered just a malfunction or accident? Then there's Nicole. She's such a useless character which is emphasized by the fact that a lot of the beginning of the movie is focused on her before she's thrown away and never seen again about 3/4 of the way through. She never does anything to actually affect Whitaker's life. She tries to help him, but he ignores everything she does. He doesn't get back with her. He doesn't marry her. She doesn't defend him in court. She does nothing. The movie would be no different with her removed.
So would I recommend seeing this movie? Of course. For an indie film and Zemeckis' first live action film in years, it's really fun to watch. It's definitely worth every award it wins.