"FLIGHT"
Screenplay Written by John Gatins
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
**** (four stars)
Welcome back, Mr. Washington! Welcome back, Mr. Zemeckis!
Earlier this year, in my review of the tepid action thriller "Safe House," I voiced my concerns about the career trajectory of Denzel Washington as I have been feeling a sense of repetitive fatigue in his acting choices Certainly, Washington is one of our greatest acting treasures as he is completely incapable of delivering a performance that could ever be considered "bad." But I have grown fatigued with the films he has chosen to make in recent years which are littered with the kind of performances Washington could sleepwalk through to the point where he has become the source of a wicked parody by Jay Pharoah of "Saturday Night Live." I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for him to deliver exactly what I know he is more than able to do for so long now yet my worries that I would just have to live within my movie memories of him were sadly mounting.
Even more concerning to me has been the career of Director Robert Zemeckis who has nothing less than enthralled me ever since I was 15 years old and saw the wonderful "Romancing The Stone" (1984). My love for Zemeckis was completely solidified when I saw "Back To The Future" (1985), on the afternoon of its opening day, completely alone (Yes, it's true!) in the movie theater. When I exited that film, I felt that I was the sole keeper of one of the world's most incredible movie going secrets. Yet, very shortly thereafter, generations have embraced what I felt to be a secret and it also gave birth to one of the classiest film trilogies I have ever seen with its timeless marriage of heart, humor pulsating emotions, terrific thrills and cliffhangers and extraordinary special effects that were always story and character driven and consistently amazed. Zemeckis blew my mind again and again with the stellar "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (1988), the ruthless vanity satire "Death Becomes Her" (1992) and of course, the magical, masterful, kaleidoscopic fable of "Forrest Gump" (1994).
What I loved about all of Zemeckis' work up to that point, among many attributes, was how conceptually air tight those films were. Everything felt to be so supremely thought out that not even one element was out of place, thus ensuring the worlds Zemeckis conjured would be as complete as possible. But, post "Forrest Gump," storytelling frays within Zemeckis' films began to show themselves to me and the ground breaking technology began to overshadow the characters. "Contact" (1997) was well intentioned and intelligent but suffered from a torpid pacing and some storytelling bumps in the road that disrupted the cumulative effect. But even worse was the odious thriller "What Lies Beneath" (2000) and the less said about that terrible picture the better. Only the excellent "Cast Away" (2000) seemed to show the Zemeckis I had known and loved for so many years but this time with a newfound filmmaking maturity and more adult driven storytelling ambiguity. But, this was not to last as Zemeckis lost himself in the weeds of special effects technology for many years.
Dear readers, believe me when I say that I would never begrudge an artist to follow the creative path of their choice but for me, my interest with Zemeckis' pioneering journeys into motion capture technology seemed to be for technology's sake only. I could not understand the hows or whys involved that he would want to spend years and years on projects without the essence of reality and real human beings so much so that I entirely lost interest in whatever he wanted to do and had to slowly resign myself to the possible fact that Robert Zemeckis was just not making movies for me anymore.
And now, we arrive with "Flight," Robert Zemeckis' first foray into live action filmmaking in 12 years, and it is as if he had never left as his cinematic storytelling has returned in full force. To that end, I am so deeply excited to announce that Denzel Washington has also returned in powerful fighting form as his performance as an alcoholic airline pilot is as riveting and as upending as any of his greatest performances. "Flight" is the combined effort of two men ready to work and work hard and their collaboration makes this film one of the most powerful efforts I have seen during this most impressive movie going year and I urge you to purchase a ticket as this film is not to be missed.
Denzel Washington stars as Captain William "Whip" Whitaker veteran commercial airline pilot and massive abuser of alcohol and drugs. On the fateful day which opens the film, Whip is introduced on the early morning after his latest tryst with Flight Attendant Katerina Marquez (Nadine Valezquez), after they have enjoyed and indulged in yet another long night of copious amounts of sex, booze and cocaine. After two more shots of cocaine, Whip reports for work to pilot a flight to Atlanta. As he ingratiates himself to his crew, all propped up on his narcotic fueled pride, Whip then ingests caffeine and aspirins as well as covertly imbibing two small bottles of vodka inside of his orange juice.
What should be a simple excursion lasting around only one hour becomes a horrific aerial nightmare as a malfunction sends the airplane containing "102 souls" on board into a dive. Whip miraculously is able to land the plane with minimal fatalities into an open field, losing consciousness upon impact.
After awakening in a hospital, Whip begins the even more perilous inner journey of navigating through his demons, regrets and addictions while simultaneously attempting to survive the National Transportation Safety Board investigation and hearing which threatens to reveal everything he has struggled to keep hidden for so much of his life.
Without question, Robert Zemeckis' "Flight"' was one of the most powerfully stirring films I have had the pleasure to sit through during this year and the pleasure I felt with seeing Zemeckis returning to and working with human beings with real human emotions, foibles and failings in such a sure handed, confident, challenging, skillfully intense, blisteringly comic and even a mostly unpredictable fashion made me feel as if I was spending time with an old friend after a lengthy silence. "Flight" easily soars to standing proudly alongside Zemeckis's previous work that has been a combination of the sensational, the electrifying and the iconic.
Much notice is already being given to the plane crash sequence which occurs in the early stages of the film and believe me, the sequence is a jaw dropper as well as a stomach flip-flopper! This sequence reminds all of us how much of a storytelling expert Zemeckis has always been and how he is one of the masters at merging special effects and the most humane aspects of the characters. Yet, this sequence is not presented as a crowd pleasing thrill ride. It is also not histrionic or gratuitous. It is deeply horrific, terrifying and completely the very type of scene that would make anyone (I imagine) second guess travelling by air ever again.
But, "Flight" is not a movie about a plane crash. It is the catalyst for a much deeper, more internal story. I wholeheartedly disagree with those critics who feel that "Flight" loses considerable altitude after that harrowing plane crash sequence. While the film grows appropriately quieter for its remainder, "Flight" loses none of its intensity as we are placed front and center into the maelstrom that surrounds Whip's alcohol and drug fueled internal life. Whip may have survived the plane crash and he may be considered a hero to many, but will he survive the endless crash his life has become due to his addictions?
As for Denzel Washington's performance, this is exactly what I have been just waiting for from him as the character of Whip allows him to give to full, rich, ferociously driven performances that we love him for. Just think of the work Washington delivered in films like Edward Zwick's "Glory" (1989), Jonathan Demme's "Philadelphia" (1993), Tony Scott's "Crimson Tide" (1995) and "Man On Fire" (2004), Antoine Fuqua's "Training Day" (2001) or any of the performances he delivered in the four films on which he worked with Spike Lee, with "Malcolm X" (1992) being the finest performance of his career. As far as I am concerned, his wrenching portrayal as the alcohol and drug addicted Whip Whitaker stands as tall as his finest work very easily..and I will elaborate a bit more shortly...
While "Flight" is undoubtedly Denzel Washington's film to carry, which he does brilliantly, he does not walk away with it entirely In fact, several of his acting colleagues almost steal the film right from under him as they all match Washington beat for beat and step for step with equal intensity. "Flight" is one of those rare Hollywood films that actually has a sharply written screenplay and Screenwriter John Gatins has certainly given the actors copious amounts of material to chomp upon with crisp dialogue and gripping motivations that allows the film to veer down some unconventional paths.
In addition to the terrific work from John Goodman, as Whip's longtime dealer and Don Cheadle as an attorney who just may match Whip in terms of cockiness, "Flight" boats one wonderful performance after another. I loved Bruce Greenwood as Whip's longtime friend, Navy buddy and unfortunate enabler, who has possibly reached the end of the excuses he is willing to give for Whip's behavior. Tamara Tunie also hits every right note as Margaret, a Flight Attendant, also exhausted with Whip. Veteran character actors Peter Gerety and Melissa Leo work wonders in their respective scant screen-times. But, I promise that you will be riveted by the work of James Badge Dale, who has only one scene in the entire film as a cancer patient Whip meets in a hospital stairwell. He was so mesmerizing, so magnetic, that once he left the scene, I wanted to follow him and see his story for a considerable spell before returning to Whip!
Even with all of this praise, I am certain that some of you may be a tad unconvinced and wonder if "Flight" is just another "addiction to sobriety" story, the kind of which we have all seen over and again. Well, to that, i offer the words of the great Roger Ebert who has always expressed the sentiment that a movie is typically never about what it is about. But it is how it is about what it is about. The success of the story is all in the telling and Zemeckis, Gatins and Washington all find ways to tell this familiar story in fresh and most importantly, honest ways where everything feels authentic. I especially loved how one of the greatest questions that embodies the film is actually one that is never mentioned but indeed implied. The question regards the status of Whip as a celebrated hero, in public opinion as well as in his own mind, due to his quick thinking during the doomed flight. But, how much of Whip's actions came through him as a human being and his vast scientific knowledge of how air crafts work and respond or how much of his actions arrived from being under the supreme influence of a variety of narcotics, all of which only inflated his sense of hubris? Great stuff to mull over as you watch.
At its core, "Flight" could be viewed as a companion piece to Zemeckis' "Cast Away," from both films having titles with double meanings and also as both films begin with a transformative plane crash that alters the lives of two men obsessed with control and places them into situations where they desperately discover how much they are at the mercy of the uncontrollable. For Tom Hanks' character in "Cast Away," it was not only the environment of the island but also the unforgiving nature of time itself. For Whip, it is the full nature of his addictions and no matter how many times Whip proclaims variations of "I'm in control" or "I've got control," we see how tragically he is unable to convince himself of this platitude. And this slow realization brings out an element I found to be especially bold in today's climate of Hollywood films where strong opinions over politics or religion are almost never uttered.
The overall and at times, overt, spiritual/religious essence of "Flight" is a risky move and even a brave one. I think it is just as brave as even Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" which argued for the non-existence of God and a meaningless, brutal, unforgiving, unsympathetic universe. By contrast, "Flight" argues for a universe in which we, as human beings, are not in control of anything because a higher plan is already at work and all we are able to do is to surrender to that plan. While Whip does not reach that sense of divine revelation himself during the course of "Flight," it is the message that continues to be rested at his feet through several characters and situations. Trust me, this is not an overly preachy, sanctimonious "Touched By An Angel" episode for if it were, I would have rejected it outright. I appreciated how unafraid "Flight" was with addressing the nature of God and what we are ultimately given is a difficult, and thankfully ambiguous, message that moves to the core of free will vs. destiny, a classic Zemeckis theme, which Denzel Washington portrays with fury and conviction.
If I had anything to quibble about, and it is a slight one, it would have to be the film's conclusion, which from a storytelling aspect felt to be a tad to clean. but, from a character driven standpoint, "Flight" concludes on a most satisfactory note of a man still sitting at a personal crossroads unsure of which direction his life will proceed. Robert Zemeckis' "Flight" is a heroic, and very adult piece of work that I believe that so many of you will find much to be rewarded by.
When you have this many creative people bringing their "A"' game to a project, how can you possibly miss seeing it? "Flight" is not to be missed!!
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