I had a problem taking this at face value

Rating: 7/10 (3 April 2020)

I have to give "Flight" more than a pass mark because it is an engrossing watch. It's the story of a man in a hole who does nothing but keep digging. As far as that goes, it has credibility. But at the end, hallelujah, he sees the light and changes his ways. The scenario and acting are excellent. If anything is wrong with the aeronautics, it's well beyond me. However, while I had a full buy-in to the story as it went along, I had a growing sense of unease. It's Hollywood values that are the problem. Drunks and drug dealers are apparently fun, entertaining and colourful characters. Over-the-top substance abuse is normal and inevitable.The sober and responsible characters are prim-lipped boring folks. It's all of a piece with the Hollywood films which are gun-totin' shoot-outs - it normalizes and glamourizes behaviour which should really not be seen as entertainment. I don't have a solution nor can I dictate boundaries, it just feels wrong. What I'm trying to say is that Hollywood likes to be moralistic but is really profoundly hypocritical and compromised. Other than that small (!) matter, I'd like to complain that much of the dialogue in "Flight" is either muttered or drawled in heavy accents, so that I missed at least half of what was said, not that it really mattered.