Flawed, with an excellent central performance

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2013)

Denzel Washington plays Whip Whitaker, a pilot who pulls off an amazing bit of flying , saving 96 lives out of 102 on board when mechanical failure puts his plane into a dive. Unfortunately, Whip is an alcoholic and substance abuser, and was flying while loaded. What effect will this have on the enquiry into the crash? You will have gained this much from the trailer (if you've seen it). What you won't have picked up is that, after the stunningly realised crash sequence which takes up the first half hour of this film, the rest of it is more or less taken up with Whip wrestling with his demons. Washington is very good, but we never get to know Whip (which is reflected in the final sequence) - we only get to know the Whip who is being piloted by alcohol.
So I have a number of criticisms, but I'll stick with the two big ones. The first is that the script is a bit of a shambles. A number of the characters are there specifically to serve particular purposes (John Goodman's drug dealer is the embodiment of the evil done to Whip by drink and drugs, as symbolised heavy-handedly by Sympathy For The Devil on the soundtrack when he first appears, Kelly Reilly's sympathetic heroin addict provides both a reflection of Whip's possible redemption as well as a sounding board for this otherwise solitary character etc.), so there is a degree of obviousness, and certain elements are raised (the religious motif), referenced, and then not taken anywhere.
The second is that the trailer solidly sells this as an interplay between the crash and the effect Whip's condition may have had on it. And this issue (what would have happened had Whip not been high? Would the 6 who died have lived? Or would all have died?), though unanswerable, is never considered. To me, it is the question posed by the trailer and would, perhaps, have made a more rewarding 90 minutes viewing than Whip's denial of his alcoholism. The climax and what follows are, if a little glib, satisfyingly dealt with in a film which tries hard but, ultimately, fails to achieve its potential.
Honourable mention must go to Nadine Velasquez whose contribution to the first two or three minutes is quite spectacular.