Review of Flight (2012) by Gavin M — 03 Jan 2015

Powerful! In his first live action film since "Cast Away," director Robert Zemeckis has created another masterpiece. Denzel Washington gives his best performance since winning his second Oscar for "Training Day," as Whip Whitaker, the American pilot who saved many lives after the plane he was flying suddenly malfunctions and he is forced into a horrific crash landing.

Denzel's character is now a hero, but unfortunately, more trouble rises when we discover as Zemeckis takes an unusual turn into his very severe and troubling addiction with alcohol and drugs. Denzel goes through an extreme performance, one that we have never seen him portray before on screen, as we literally get a hard look at how bad his character's addiction is.

His character is in denial of his addiction, and that is what makes Denzel's character so compelling and unpredictable to watch as we see him from the minute he quits his alcohol addiction the second after the plane crash to him starting all over again after hearing he might be facing serious jail time for his intoxication the night before the flight.

This is where Denzel's character spins completely out of control and begins a legit collision course with his alcohol and drug addiction, but it's the alcohol that buries him. Denzel hasn't felt this vulnerable on screen ever.

It's the first time we are seeing him play a character that we literally feel for the entire film as we clearly get to see that he is a troubled man who lies, charms, and does what ever he has to do to hide his addiction with alcohol and drugs.

His drug of choice is cocaine, the cocaine helps to wake him up if he is severely hung over before he has to fly, and it's crazy to see how cocaine can get a person back on his feet no matter how hungover they are from partying all night.

Denzel's character literally lives like a rock star in this movie, and he knows on the inside how much his addiction has cost him everything, including his relationship with his wife who is now his ex and his son who he doesn't speak to at all because of his addiction.

There's a lot more than what meets the eye with Denzel's character as like I said before, his character his just completely out of control, and Denzel plays it brilliantly as he is definitely without a doubt one of my all time favorite actors and one of the best actors that has ever lived and still living to this day.

But what also makes "Flight," so compelling and watchable is the supporting cast that Robert Zemeckis is so great at casting in order to give someone like Denzel Washington to have something to work and feed off of and that definitely starts with John Goodman.

John Goodman also is one of my all time favorite actors, who gives one of his most impressive performances as Denzel's drug dealer and friend. John Goodman has such great comedic timing for his performances that it is why he is one of the best actors also to ever live because you can take him serious and funny all at the same time, and that is also what makes him one of the greats.

Don Cheadle too does a fine job as well as Denzel's lawyer, who Denzel disposed in the film and Cheadle does an equally good job at letting Denzel's character in the film know right back that he doesn't like him, especially when he finds out according to Cheadle's character what a "Drunken, arrogant asshole he is," and for me that pretty much sums up Denzel's character in the film.

The rest of the cast does fine work but Denzel, Goodman, and Cheadle are the ones that stick out the most. Although I will say Bruce Greenwood does a fine job as well as Denzel's pilot buddy in the film and Melissa Leo also is impressive as the deposition attorney that tried to find out if Denzel had been drinking the night before the plane crash.

We all know how much I am a fan of great movies with great soundtracks and I have to say that Robert Zemeckis definitely used one of his most impressive soundtracks since "Forrest Gump." Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones is the star song of this movie and rightfully so as it gives the vibe of Denzel's addiction lifestyle that will definitely suck you in and possibly listen to after seeing the movie.

I must say though, I have been a huge Denzel Washington fan since I first saw him in "Courage Under Fire" and "Malcolm X" for which he earned another oscar nomination for Best Actor, and I still say "Training Day" will always be his most iconic and best performance he has ever betrayed on screen, but his performance in "Flight" deserves to be among one of his best as we have never seen Denzel portray a character like this and there is no doubt Denzel definitely goes to some very uncomfortable places in this movie with his character, and that is why it should definitely be recognized as a great performance because it's about a man as I said before who is in denial with his addiction and cannot come to terms with it and that is why the plane crash scene that is just unbelievably horrifying to watch as there is no doubt that it will never be an inflight movie in the near future as someone only like Robert Zemeckis could only direct and shoot himself has definitely made one of the best what the fuck moments on screen of all time.

Also I would like to acknowledge screenwriter John Gatins who has written a very deep and powerful story that hearing about how long it took him to write the screenplay since he first started in 1998, is a real encouragement for all screenwriters out there because as a struggling screenwriter myself, it's nice to know that there are other people out there struggling to tell stories like me.

But this is definitely a message about addiction and what it does to a person and how severe it can rob a person of his life like it did for Denzel's character and that their is no shame in getting help and admitting that you haven fallen in life as we all do, believe me.

But getting a grip on it ASAP instead of not doing anything about it at all is just as bad if not even more than hurting the people around you who care so deeply about you. It's a moment we all come to in our lives when we are in rough times with our lives and I'm not saying addiction robs everybody of their life, but for most people struggling with addiction it does and like I said we all come to that moment in life when we ask ourselves "Is this who I really am?".