Review of Flight (2012) by Gary N — 26 Oct 2013

Director Robert Zemekis returns to the realm of live action filmmaking-his last being "Castaway" with Tom Hanks. Similarities abound. A-list Oscar-winning actors in tales of hitting rock bottom either in terms of circumstance and/or self destruction; their character's catharsis; faith as a healer & all following harrowing, horrific planes crashes.

One can only assume Zemekis travels abroad by boat or train!

Like "Castaway", there is a lot to like-but ultimately you might find yourself looking at your watch & wondering when it will end.

The 1st half an hour is by far the best; teeing up the film nicely: Washington's alcoholic pilot -following a wild night of substance abuse & sexual endeavour-requires a slug of beer and a substantial line of coke to "straighten him out" prior to taking charge of a flight of 103 souls. The crash is Hollywood spectacle-loosely based upon an Alaskan Airways flight in 2000, in which everyone tragically died-here Washington saves the day, with the vast majority surviving the disastrous mechanical failure.

How can the film live up to expectation following this? Not so well...

It becomes a slow paced mediation on faith and alcoholism, occasionally sent off kilter by odd characters popping up -John Goodman's as a drug dealing Svengali-is fun misplaced in its tone. He seems to have stepped off the set of a Coen Brothers movie.

Despite Washington's believable performance, the direction taken by the story lacks tension and real drama. You don't really feel it, you are led to it in melodramatic fashion with broad strokes.

My expectation was for a procedural investigation; casting aspersions about human failings against the obvious plane mechanical issues - which would bring to light the all important issue in modern America: financial liability. We often see pilots being blamed for crashes, a cover-up- and those decisions challenged and overturned years later.

Alas, Zemekis wants the journey to be about a battle with addiction & redemption. The finale smacks of Hollywood wishful thinking- ultimately I did not believe that our phished up pilot would have acted the way he does at the end. Solid but uninspired.