Review of Flight (2012) by Jovana Lee R — 08 Sep 2013

Following 'Mars Needs Moms'. I think Zemeckis realized he had to come back to the real world.

This film has been terribly advertised. On the 'Blu-Ray' cover it tells the audience that it is 'nerve-shredding. This then leads to the audience member expecting an action-packed film full of plane crashes and other set pieces. This is not that film, although it may have a 'nerve-shredding' opening set piece, the rest of the film is a much more controlled and quiet film, looking at the central character and concentrating on the subject of addiction and alcoholism.

It is a character study. Not an action movie.

And that is not a bad thing. As I Really enjoyed it.

The plane crash is as terrifying as it is made out to be, and is brilliantly constructed. And although it is a little jarring to go from this fast paced action scene, to a much slower pace with 'Denzel's recovery, it does start to smooth out, and you start to become more involved within the story.

The main problem with the film is the duration. It could have been shorter, and there are a few scenes in the middle that start to feel repetitive, where he would try not to drink, and then he might just have one more. You get the idea. It's effective stuff, that just feels a little over done after a while.

As the film comes to the finale, in this case the courtroom scene, it starts to pick up again. And the pay off is pretty effective, and makes you feel like it was worth the wait. And it definitely is a slow movie.

Which isn't always a bad thing. It's just that this film was just too long for it's own good. 'Denzel' is absolutely brilliant here, and I was always interested, and it is very effective. But the film is just a little too long for it to be perfect.