A well acted drama

Rating: 7/10 (12 April 2014)

After making a series of motion capture films, Robert Zemeckis returned to live-action filmmaking with the drama Flight, which earned two Oscar nominations.
William "Whip" Whittaker Sr. (Denzel Washington) is a pilot with alcohol and drug issues. Before a flight from Orlando to Atlanta had spend the night with a flight attendant, Katerina Marquez (Nadine Velazquez), undertaking his vices. When the place suffers from a mechanical error Whip miraculously rolls the plane and clashes it so that only six people lose their lives. Whip is hailed as a hero but the investigators of the clash discover Whip's alcoholism. With his legal team Whip sets out to prevent himself going to prison and being open to lawsuits and forms a relationship from a recurring drug addict, Nicole (Kelly Reilly).
Flight is at best in the first 30 minutes where Zemeckis treats us to a brilliant sequence as the place suffers technical failure and nosedives with Whip taking controls of the situation. It is a tense, exciting sequence as the plan has to role in the sky and shows Zemeckis' skill with both big special effects and drama, showing why he has such a good reputation as a director.
After the excitement of the first act Flight turns into a pure drama about a man with an addiction, playing it believable as a man who says he can give up any time but continually drawn to alcohol as a crutch. The other element is the legal drama as Whip and his legal team tires to prove it was mechanical error and not pilot error.
Washington gives an excellent performance, being believable as this dark character, even when he is acting for good, such as defending Nicole. He did deserve an Oscar nomination and he is ably supported by a excellent cast, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly (best known role in the Sherlock Holmes films) and Bruce Greenwood.
John Gatins was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and he does tell an interesting story, using a big event to draw us into a character study and a Zemeckis drama. But Gatins and Zemeckis do go very heavy handed with the religious themes of redemption and forgiveness, with the plane clashing into a church, the members of church continuing to pray at the site of the clash and many conversations about God's will. It was the conversations about religion that felt particularly forceful and chucky and needed a rewrite to make it work better.
Flight is a solid drama thanks to the performances from its cast and an excellent first act from Zemeckis.