Great character study

Rating: 8/10 (28 February 2013)

Flight caught a lot of flak as people realized that it wasn't an action movie about a plane crash. The false impression that it was such a movie undoubtedly came from the movie's trailers. If Flight had been an action movie, it would have undoubtedly been a special effects movie with some character development filling in the gaps between the effects. Flight is really a movie about a pilot's crash that is separate and distinct from the plane's crash.
Flight's anti-hero pilot, Whip Whitaker, is played by Denzel Washington. The opening scene of Flight immediately dashes any heroic conception of Whitaker and should scare the daylights out of anyone who flies as a commercial passenger. That scene has Whitaker and flight attendant Katerina Marquez, played by My Name is Earl's Nadine Velazquez, waking up from a night of presumed debauchery and returning themselves to some level of functionality through the use of beer, cocaine, and marijuana.
Cut to the airport, where the airliner, piloted by the self-medicated Whitaker leaps from the earth into a severe thunderstorm. Whitaker pushes the aircraft to edge of it performance envelope as he maneuvers the plane through a rough couple of minutes before popping into blue skies. Whittaker turns the controls over to his somewhat priggish co-pilot, Ken Evans, played very well by Brian Geraghty, and treats himself to three bottles of vodka from the drink cart. This scene becomes important later in the movie.
The flight progresses and the time for descent begins. Co-pilot Evans pushes the control yoke forward and all hell breaks loose as the plane becomes uncontrollable. Uncontrollable for anyone but Whip Whitaker who takes over the controls and barks a series of orders to Evans and drafts flight attendant, Margaret Thomason, played by Tamara Tunie, into service manipulating the throttles. Whitaker later claims that his actions and instructions came from instinct rather than contemplation. Most movies require that the viewer suspend disbelief to some degree; the instinctual nature of Whitaker's actions and its more or less successful execution requires that suspension. The plane crashes, albeit in a fairly controlled fashion and only six people are lost. Whitaker is hailed by the press and the public as a herountil the routine toxicology test performed on crew members indicates that Whitaker had an impressive blood alcohol content and cocaine in his system. This is where Flight really takes off.
The dead demand an answer. So states lawyer Hugh Lang, played by the ever capable Don Cheadle. The movie describes a system where aircraft owners try to blame the aircraft manufacturer or, failing that, pilot error. The manufacturer tries to shift blame to the aircraft owner or crew. Whitaker, as pilot, points the finger at anyone but himself. He says in no uncertain terms that the plane was "broken." Enter Nicole, played by British actor Kelly Reilly. Nicole is a down on her luck photographer who became addicted to heroin and prostitutes herself for drug money. Even as the airliner flown by Whittaker flies inverted overhead, Nicole is being wheeled from her apartment after overdosing. The two meet in the hospital later that day. The two become lovers, and Nicole begins a transformation into Whitaker's conscience. Whitaker doesn't enjoy having a conscience, having gone so long without one, and the relationship with Nicole suffers from the strain.
John Goodman plays Harling Mays, Whitaker's affable and eccentric dealer and general enabler. Mays arrives at key times in the movie to save the day or postpone Whitaker's day of reckoning. The audience should hate what Mays is, but that is hard to do. Director Robert Zemeckis, even has The Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil place each time Mays makes an entrance.
The efforts of union representative and Whitaker's old friend, Charlie Anderson, played by Bruce Greenwood, and lawyer Lang give Whitaker the opportunity for denial, something he has done for many years. Will Whitaker run for his life or face the music? Flight is an intense character study that will hold you rapt. Flight is a long movie at 138 minutes, but you won't even notice that.