Spot-On Drama About Addiction

Rating: 8/10 (4 January 2015)

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to be an extremely talented person with a horrible substance-abuse problem, Flight is definitely the movie for you. Alcohol and coke contain the seeds of destruction for pilot Whip Whitaker, and a disastrous mechanical failure on a flight to Atlanta push his life of deception and denial to a point of catastrophe. Whip saves the flight with a Sully Sullenberger style maneuver, but the truth is that he was bombed when he came to fly the plane, and a lawyer hired by the pilot's union has to do colossal damage control to keep the word from getting out. Whip recovers from the crash on his farm and finds a fellow addict to share a relationship of sorts during the convalescence, but this relationship, like his already-destroyed marriage, is quickly on the rocks because of his continued drinking (sorry about the nasty puns).
What makes this movie special is that most of the details about the addiction are very believable, and then are elevated to an utterly- truthful status by Denzel Washington's brilliant performance. Washington gives a perfect picture of a man who is talented and appealing in many ways, but whose soul is completely death-gripped by the booze and drugs. It is a sad story told brilliantly.
The end of the movie, I will say, is perhaps not realistic. I cannot go into details, otherwise I would have to check off the spoiler box, and so the film has a flaw (see it for yourself!). The filmmakers to some extent paint themselves into a corner with it, and perhaps it could have happened, but I don't believe it. Nonetheless, everyone should go and watch the addict and be appalled.