Solid drama

Rating: 6/10 (2 January 2014)

This film reminds me of solid 1980s TV dramas: the decent man with a drinking problem who saves the day, but whose problem comes to haunt him. The estranged wife and son, the girlfriend who abandons him because he won't quit, the people who manipulate him, the guilt that flares up intermittently and then comes to roost at the bitter end.
Denzel Washington pulls it off well as Whip the alcoholic pilot, and singlehandedly holds the film together through the FAA investigation following a plane crash caused by an 'Act of God', during which Whip, even drunk, saves most souls on board through skilled piloting.
On the downside, the film shares the easy symbolism and predictability of solid TV movies. Speaking of 'souls' and 'Acts of God,' there is a lot of religious symbolism (from a born-again co-pilot to a clipped church tower during the crash), but it fails to provide depth. It's clear at every moment where this one is going to steer, although at least the pilot union man made sure there are only soft drinks in the fridge in Whip's hotel room the night before the big hearing; but of course fate has the door to the adjoining empty guest room unlocked. An FAA hearing brings epiphany, and a sit-down with Whip's estranged son a certain closure.
The R rating is well deserved with all the nudity, drugs and booze, yet the film almost has the flavor of a family movie. In fact, if it were edited for network TV like the old days to remove 'questionable material' as they used to call it, it would fit right in. Tight editing from 130 minutes down to 95 would have brought this up by one star, and make it fit into 2 hours with the commercials added.