A Good Flight

Rating: 7/10 (5 November 2012)

My mom really wanted to see this and I'm a big fan of Robert Zemeckis so it was a win-win situation here. By the end of the film, my mom was in tears so I know we seen a good movie.
The film follows Whip (Denzel Washington), a pilot who we first see in bed with a hot chick, drinking beer, and snorting cocaine. That's our lead, ladies and gentlemen. What's scarier is that he's about to fly a plane full of passengers. However, he just passes out and the plane malfunctions all on its own. His co-pilot just freaks out but Whip keeps it cool, leveling the plane... and then inverts it. Weird. But what's cool is that we get to see from a cockpit perspective. Honestly, never before have I seen a film that really captures the whole flying thing. I never flown before so this was a close experience.
Sure enough, he lands the plane but it crashes. Luckily, most everyone survived except six people. Still, people want blood and because Whip has an alcohol and drug problem, they want to put him away. So instead of, oh I don't know, staying off the booze, he keeps drinking. Everyone who is trying to help him tells him to stop, but he keeps drinking. So throughout the film, he copes with that but he just can't stop and pushing away everyone around him.
The performances were excellent in this movie. Some of the conversations felt very real, and I sense Oscar nods coming their way. It helps when the writing is superb. The only thing about this movie that it doesn't really have the charm as some of the other Zemeckis films. I don't see repeat viewings or anything. Also, product placement galore!