Stephen Whitty review of Flight

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/11/flight_thrillingly_turbulent.html

Stephen Whitty review of Flight hits several key points about the film. It is a story about what Whitty calls a “high-functioning” drunk that manages to land a plane after the systems jam. There are also other subplots within the film. Some of them might be even more important than the opening 15 minutes themselves, including a well-done CGI crash scene. The most important point Whitty makes regarding Flight is that it’s Denzel Washington’s movie. Washington saves the film from miscues just as he saves hundreds of lives as a fictional pilot, Whip Whitaker.

I thought that Stephen Whitty made some fair points about the film. One of them is noting Robert Zemeckis’ style of directing that he brings into Flight. Zemeckis, director of Cast Away and Forrest Gump, share a common theme of what Whitty calls “life has no random events.” He uses this same theme in Flight Whitaker’s status as a hero becomes diminished by other aspects of his life. He is a drunk. He left behind his wife and son. He is presumed to have an extramarital affair with another woman. Everything that he experienced is as Whitty says unplanned, but ultimately, it forces Whitaker in all sorts of directions. The story itself goes in many different directions and becomes more serious. For example, he crosses paths with another woman played by Keily Reilly who is a recovering drug addict herself. They begin to relate to their problems and spark a complicated relationship. Questions are also raised as to whether Whitaker’s drinking the night before the accident had anything to do with the plane functioning improperly.

Flight is a film that takes on many layers (one would argue too many). It is the type of Denzel Washington movie that everyone is used to. Washington plays the type of charming, complex and sinister character that people will remember from Training Day. Whitty rated Flight film a 3 ½ stars, a rating that I feel is more than appropriate for the film. However, I think that Denzel Washington deserves 5 stars from his brilliant performance.