'Nobody could've landed that plane like I did.'

Rating: 7/10 (6 February 2013)

FLIGHT is a film that attracts devotees of Denzel Washington - and for good reason because he gives a convincing performance as a conflicted alcoholic cocaine addict who despite the fact that he wastes most of his life and relationships with his substance abuse, he still is one of the finest pilots in the air. And if that is the reason for watching his overly long attenuated movie then the rewards will be there.
The story as written by John Gatins and directed by Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future etc) begins correctly enough with a wasted Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) still drunk and drug addled with his flight attendant girlfriend Trina (Nadine Velazquez) interrupted by a telephone call form Whips ex-wife requesting tuition, money for their son. The two snort cocaine to get going from their hangovers and they are off to a flight to Atlanta. Once aboard Whip's instability is noted by his anxious new co-pilot Ken (Brian Geraghty) but despite poor weather the flight takes off only to crash a bit later: Whip manages to pull it together enough to bring the airplane down in a field losing only six people in the crash (one being Trina). The rest of the film is an endless diatribe of Whip recovering, getting control of his substance abuse only to repeatedly lose if again, meeting a pretty junkie Nicole (Kelly Reilly in a stand out role) who becomes his lover, meeting a terminal cancer patient Tiki (Charlie E. Schmidt), being counseled by his best friend Charlie (Bruce Greenwood) who brings in a lawyer Hugh (Don Cheadle) to attempt to cover-up the fact that the investigation of the crash has shown that Whip was impaired by his excesses. A 'resource' Harling Mays (John Goodman) keeps Whip supplied with drugs up to the last moment and it is only at the hearing (finally) that Whip confesses to investigator Ellen (Melissa Leo) that he was indeed drunk during the flight and in turn pays for the guilt with which he has been struggling in his semi- sober moments.
The cinematography during the airplane crash is excellent and the supporting cast is very strong, but despite Washington's performance the movie misses on so many levels due to incomplete working through of sidebar plot lines. The salvation for the film is in the last five minutes of fine acting by Washington, but by that time the audience is very tired of the manner in which a gifted pilot has wasted his (and everyone else's around him) life that clock watching takes over.
Grady Harp