Review of Flight (2012) by Jude P — 03 Jan 2015

"Flight" is just good it's not great. Robert Zemeckis has directed some of the most memorable movies ever made. "Forrest Gump" "Cast Away" "Back to the Future" "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" the list goes on. The man has a clear vision for storytelling like no other director. "Flight" now marks his first major motion feature in years, but it's really Denzel Washington's very deserving Oscar nominated performance as the alcoholic, drug addict pilot Capt. Whip Whitaker, who miracuously crash lands the plane he's flying after one of engines mysteriously breaks down. Capt. Whitaker is now a hero, having saved nearly everybody on board with the exception of a few causualties, but things come into question when Denzel's character is now under investigation when they find out after the crash and they took blood from him that he had alcohol and cocaine in his system at the time of the crash and if that turns out to be the reason why the plane crashed that fateful day, Denzel's character is looking to face life in prison; and that is when the movie takes off. It's a performance unlike anything Denzel has played before. Certainly not as extreme as his character in this movie, who has an alcohol problem like no other and is in complete denial about it even though he is fully aware of his addiction to alcohol and other substances. I never thought in a million years I would see Denzel Washington snorting cocaine, but that is why I have to hail his performance in this movie because it's a very daring performance, one that makes me wonder if Denzel had any doubts himself about the part before he signed on. In the beginning of the film we are introduced to Denzel's character waking up to his alarm clock shortly after 7am and we clearly see the beer bottles laying all over the hotel room, with his stewardess that he had sex with the night before laying next to him. So we clearly see in the beginning of the film that the both of them were up all night partying. But things just escalate even further after his ex-wife calls him.

Shortly after he wakes up to ask him for money for their sons tuition for college, even though it's clear he hasn't seen his son in long time and we can gather later in the film it's because of his drinking. Denzel refuses to pay being of the fact that he feels the only time his ex-wife calls him is for money, so that's when Denzel says he'll get back to her after the his flight, but then his wife calls him a liar because she knows he will not call her back, even though he denies that he is lying, even though he most likely is. That's when he hangs up, and we see the stewardess called Catrina that he has partied and had sex with walking around naked in the hotel room, sparking up a joint and smoking some before passing it to Denzel as he gladly takes a hit from the joint. Feeling light headed after the hit, this is where we get the shock of Denzel's character as we see him do a line of cocaine instantly waking him up to go to work and that is where we see that we are in for something with this movie. Denzel is in total control with his character the whole way through filming and that there is one scene after he hears the news about that he might be facing life in prison and proceeds to drink a ton of alcohol, including downing a big bottle of Vodka and drinking a couple cans of Budweiser in between and then shows up at his ex-wife's house, asking to come in. We know from the moment she lets him in that this is not going to end well as the moment he starts talking to her she automatically suspects him of drinking and that's were the scene gets intense as Denzel's son in the movie comes down from being upstairs and confronts Denzel, telling him he needs to leave the house now. But Denzel doesn't leave, testing his son to see what he's gonna do, saying to him "Oh, your the man of the house now?" And in that instant Denzel quickly grabs his son and hugs him tight not letting him go and telling him how much he loves him clearly displaying how bad his addiction is spiraling out of control. They eventually get him to leave, and as Denzel leaves he tells them "I know where I'm not wanted," which is something an addict who refuses to get help would clearly say to a family member who knows they have a problem with addiction. It's the scene that sticks out in my head the most, probably because I couldn't believe that this was Denzel the whole time I'm watching this movie. It's the scene that definitely landed Denzel the very deserve worthy Oscar nomination for Best Actor that year. The movie is also filled with great supporting roles as well especially from John Goodman who I feel is such an underrated actor who plays Denzel's drug dealer who helps him out from time to time and spends time with him clearly displaying that they are buddies, but are hanging out with each other for the wrong reasons. The scene where Don Cheadle who plays Denzel's lawyer and Bruce Greenwood who plays Denzel's long time pilot buddy, walk into Denzel's hotel room the morning before the hearing and discover that Denzel had broken into the liquor cabinet next door that was mysteriously unlocked and drank all the liquor in the cabinet literally trashing his entire hotel room with empty liquor bottles only to find Denzel's character in the bathroom in his boxers completely passed out from smashing his head on the toilet in the bathroom leaving a big spot of blood on the toilet seat. Cheadle assumes he's dead automatically as Greenwood tries to wake him up, successfully doing so. That's when John Goodman arrives and sees Denzel's character on the bed still in his boxers with a towel around his neck and holding a cup of coffee in both hands. Goodman knows immediately that he's hurting and tries to talk to Denel to see what happened and that is when Cheadle goes to grab the bag that Goodman carried with him into the room and yells at Cheadle "Do not touch the merch mother fucker!" It's an incredible moment for Goodman, one that I think is funny the way he yells at Cheadle. And that is when Goodman's character asks everyone in the room to take one step back and asks both men to place a table and a mirror in front of Denzel with a glass of water, including a $100 bill. I forget which of the two says they only have a 20 dollar bill, but Goodman says she will do anyway. He also instructs the security guard to stand outside and guard the front door so no one comes in. And this is where the scene gets crazy as he also has one of the men take a cigarette and empty out some of the tobacco in the cigarette so he can put cocaine in it. This is where Goodman lays out several different types of cocaine for Denzel so he can wake up and get himself together for the hearing, even having him smoke the cocaine lit cigarette too in the process. It's an amazing scene to watch as the two take part in this en devour and as Goodman does a line of coke with Denzel he looks up at both Cheadle and Greenwood holding the rolled 20 dollar bill at them saying to them "Ya'll are up." It's funny as both men look at each other clearly displaying in their faces that they do not do cocaine at all as Denzel just says back to Goodman "Shit, I'll take another hit," and he snorts away. That is when Denzel looks up at Goodman's character smiling telling him "I'm good brotha," and they both hug it out as Denzel thanks him in the process as he heads into the shower as if he had just taken some miracle pill to sober him up. Once Denzel heads into the shower closing the door behind him, Goodman asks both Cheadle and Greenwood "Which one of you gentlemen is funding this enterprise?" And they both look at each other clearly not expecting to have to take money out of their pocket, as Greenwood says he's got 80 bucks on him and Goodman gladly takes the money and saluting them as he leaves, but telling them as he leaves that he left a little something extra for Denzel because he is going to need it later, and like a bat out of hell he's gone. It's such a compelling scene to watch and with "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones playing in the background it definitely adds flavor to the scene. It's once Denzel enters the hearing all suited up and ready to go and enters the hearing being asked countless amounts of questions about the day of the flight by Melissa Leo who played Mark Wahlberg's mother in "The Fighter" for which she won Best Supporting Actress that year and who she is trying to find out who is responsible for the two little bottles of vodka found in the garbage can after the flight had crashed, which we clearly saw earlier in the film was Denzel's doing as we saw him pour those two bottles into his container of orange juice after the flight was disrupted by some turbulence after his character clearly was taking chances pushing through the storm with passengers aboard panicking for their lives including Denzel's co-pilot that was with him the day of the flight worrying too that Denzel's character was getting a little out of control during the flight of the storm. But Denzel clearly displayed that he is right on target staying very calm through out the.

Whole incident. And once the the turbulence calms down and Denzel gets through the storm everyone is at ease. But I will say it's after that whole incident and Denzel and the crew are quickly alarmed when the plane starts rocking out of control causing Tamara Tunney to almost fall to her side causing Denzel to wake up after taking a 20 minute snooze while in the air. It's pure craziness as Denzel quickly takes control while staying completely calm while everyone else on board is panicking for their dear lives while Denzel tries to figure out the problem and keep the plane in the air. But once they lose their engines Denzel is forced to do an emergency landing, but before that Denzel is able to keep from going down at one point by completely turniong the plane upside down and flying it in mid air making you think while watching it, oh-my-GOD! For a man under the infulence of both alcohol and cocaine it was amazing to see just how calm and collected Denzel's character is the whole time during the emergency flight. It's a performance that clearly shows that nobody else could have played this part the way Denzel Washington did, it's even impossible to imagine anyone else as this is clearly a tailored made role for Denzel, who is without a doubt one of the best actors that has ever lived. I will say that Robert Zemeckis did a masterful job filming that planbe crash scene, it clearly showed he's still got it after all these years being away from the big screen. This is definitely a film that only he could have directed and that is why this is a Robert Zemeckis film, especially at the end where we learn the fate of Denzel's character, but I don't want to give anything away as that is for you the viewer to see. This is definitely a movie that should be watched by everyone, even people who know a family member who is or was an addict can benefit from watching this film that if they know someone who is suffering from addiction, that they need to get help right away, and hopefully people who are addicts that see this movie will realize that help is available for those who need it but are in denial or don't know how to get help, this is a movie that is sending a message that we all fall and get lost in life at one point or another and that as human beings, it's okay to fall, but we must remember that we have to get up at some point and face the music.