An Overrated Flight (Spoilers)

Rating: 4/10 (27 January 2013)

*SPOILERS* Precisely because the average rating on Flight is so high, I feel the need to add my thoughts about the movie (and script.) The definition of "spoiler" isn't all that tight, so I'll alert you to what I think are mild spoilers, below.
Early in the movie, Denzel Washington's character, pilot Whip Whitaker maneuvers his commercial aircraft through what looks like great turbulence than I can imagine a non-military flight taking off in, in real life. It looks like the plane is taking off in a hurricane. Unlikely. During the same flight, Whip manages to wrestle the un-flyable, defective plane to a heroic crash landing. And he does all this with a blood alcohol level that makes him legally drunk. Even for Hollywood, this is too much. Alcoholics -- especially those with decades of heavy drinking under their belt -- do not tend to think that fast, or have lightning quick reflexes. Some athletes hit home runs while hung over, but that's while actively drunk. The kind of clear thinking and super-fast analysis of complex situations that this hero demonstrates aren't compatible with alcoholism.
*SPOILER (in the next TWO paragraphs) Movie-goers tend to like and respect bright, highly capable characters. And while Whip is a super-human pilot, he is super-weak and/or super-dumb when it comes to his actions following the crash landing. Despite being told not to drink in the coming weeks or months by the lawyer assigned (by Whip's union) to help him, Whip immediately proceeds to indulge in heavy drinking. It's dramatic alright, and makes us wonder how things will play out, but that character wouldn't be that stupid. Yes, he would probably have to drink, but this man knows his blood will be tested soon and that he may be facing a long prison sentence if convicted of causing deaths, so a bright guy like Whip might go to a doctor, try to get meds and other treatment to help him stay sober in the immediate future. The devil-may-care attitude we see throughout much of the movie is unrealistic for this character.
*SPOILER* He abruptly stops drinking after years of heavy drinking -- and no withdrawal symptoms? Probably possible (everyone's body reacts differently to things), but unlikely. He'd have tremors, maybe hallucinations, alerted mental status, etc. Going cold turkey is dangerous. People going through it seldom look and function like Whip does for a few days.
(END OF SPOILER) Whip's relationship with a down-and-out drug addict/hooker is kind of a cliché at this point. How many more movies do we have to endure where the troubled hero gets the help he needs from a hooker with her own problems? No points to the writer for this cliché.
John Goodman plays a supremely confident drug dealer who is a long-time friend of Whip's. He does a fine job in a colorful role, but for my taste, the cartoonish nature of that character is out of tune with the rest of the movie. It wakes us up and makes us laugh, but if the movie and its message are to be taken seriously, Goodman's character robs the film of some of its gravity. It comes across as a self-conscious attempt at pandering to the audience by making sure we get a few laughs thrown in.
Bottom line, this is not an Oscar-worthy script. One of director Robert Zemekis's biggest movies was "Forrest Gump," whose mentally-challenged protagonist was able to rise to the top of several pyramids (like ping-pong, the food business, etc.) It makes sense that he would also like the idea of an alcoholic pilot who saves many lives with his heroic actions. The ending was satisfying, but it felt contrived. I think "Flight" has been the beneficiary of over-enthusiasm.