Review of Flight (2012) by Foxgrove — 04 Mar 2013

Whatever else may be wrong with this film it certainly has nothing to do with Denzel Washington's committed and convincing portrayal of an alcoholic pilot under suspicion for negligence after the aircraft he was piloting crash lands killing six people on board.

The crash sequence is extremely well handled wringing out maximum tension. Once grounded, though, the screenplay introduces us to sundry supporting characters that tend to make the story seem very disjointed.

Each scene seems to feel like a tiny vignette filling in the background detail of his life which holds little real interest.. The Introduction of drug user Kelly Reilly also doesn't really add the necessary spark.

In fact her main purpose is to show that her road to recovery is a lot quicker than the path Denzel's character chooses. The final outcome is somewhat predictable, but before the cloying reunion scenes with the estranged son, there is a really good key scene where bye Denzel is interrogated by a wonderfully understated Melissa Leo.

Here the film really packs a punch, but for most of it's excesive running time Flight just doesn't take off.