Review of "Flight"

Rating: 9/10 (6 November 2012)

Denzel Washington was able to take control of a runaway freight train in Unstoppable and bring it fully under control. In his latest motion picture, Flight, he brings a crippled airliner in for an amazing landing, but has considerable difficulty bringing his own life under control.
And so, frequent fliers are introduced to the world of the alcoholic pilot, when their flight experiences severe atmospheric turbulence just after take off, which knocks something out of kilter in the tail section, and plunges the plane into an uncontrolled steep dive. Despite several vodkas and a line of coke, Denzel as Captain Whip Whitaker, pulls off some extraordinary maneuvers to glide the airliner to earth.
These scenes once again show the skill of director Robert Zemeckis to depict a plane crash with the same realism and restraint that he utilized in Cast Away—superbly edited, believable, and nowhere near the overwrought excesses of the crashes we saw in Scorsese's The Aviator or the 2004 version of Flight of the Phoenix.
Zemeckis has also guided Denzel Washington through this masterful screenplay to one of the finest performances we have yet seen this year. This story has brought out the best in the entire cast, whether portraying lawyers, colleagues, or those lost in the consequences of their many addictions.
I speak of Bruce Greenwood, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, the wonderfully over-the-top John Goodman, straight arrow co-pilot Brian Geraghty, the conflicted flight attendant Tamara Tunie, the cancerous James Badge Dale, and the all-too-briefly appearing Melissa Leo. They all combine to make for the compelling drama which emerges from a truly thrilling and remarkable plane crash, well worth seeing at full scale in theater.
Review by thomasormsby.com