Excellent Character Study

Rating: 8/10 (3 November 2012)

Excellent character study about a troubled individual. As an airline captain myself, it is very difficult to sympathize with someone who would put his passengers in constant danger by being a chronic substance abuser.
But, it is a very high credit to Denzel Washington to make you care regardless. His fearless performance is why Washington is one of the world's greatest actors! I am so very happy to see him take on a challenging part like this, after doing so many roles he could do in his sleep.
Robert Zemeckis turns in his least Zemeckis-like film ever, getting out of the way and allowing the script and the actors to do their parts. The film gets seriously sidetracked with the two appearances from John Goodman, but Goodman has spent his career just popping up and giving goofball performances, so no surprise there.
All in all, very good work on all counts, plus the ending works.
******** 8 Out of 10 Stars