Realistic To Its Own Detriment

Rating: 5/10 (6 March 2017)

The funny thing about the cinematic experience sometimes is that, for all that moviegoers seem to want more "realism" on the big screen (e.g. the dark, gritty, "Dark Knight" series, a movie completely steeped in reality falls a bit short. Why? Because, generally speaking, we go to the cinema to ESCAPE our own realities, not get sucked up in them once again. Thus, for all the good things that "Flight" accomplishes, it is just too "grounded" to ever real produce the kind of emotional response needed to make it truly great.
For a basic plot summary (containing some minor spoilers), "Flight" sees pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) perform an incredible feat of flying by landing a large commercial airliner that is literally falling apart around him. The only problem? Mr. Whitaker is an alcoholic who also uses cocaine to "rev himself back up" and continue flying. When both substances are found on his toxicology report after the crash, Whip embarks on a personal journey that ultimately ends with him confronting his own personal demons.
There are some things that this film does very well. The direction from Robert Zemeckis is sound, Denzel turns in a great performance, and the airplane sequences are absolutely captivating. The plot and auxiliary characters are also just good enough to make it a solid effort despite my biggest critique:
I have never viewed a film so down-to-earth and utterly devoid of an ounce of contrived drama. Usually that is a good thing (as so many films go the opposite route), but in this case it just makes for a flick that doesn't really arouse any deep emotions or feelings towards the on-screen proceedings. Every step of Whip's journey is laid out for us, there are no surprises, and even the moments that could have been filled with drama are instead a bit anti-climactic because they have already been explained to us.
Overall, then, I can't rank "Flight" as anything significantly better than average. It is a good role for Denzel, but other than that it just fails to capture any emotion enough to be a huge success.