Flight - What happened here?

Rating: 4/10 (3 November 2012)

******MAJOR SPOILERS******
Honestly, I was disappointed. Never mind my distaste for action/war movies – when I saw Denzel Washington's name, I thought 'How bad could it be?' It was pretty bad. This movie takes a (pardon the pun) nosedive when the character development begins to resemble a yo-yo. Up, down, up, down, back and forth, until sooner or later it gets tedious and boring.
It becomes boring to the point when you can't believe you bought it to begin with.
Whip Whittaker is a man with a serious drinking issue. Oh and by the way folks, he crashes a plane. Now let's just think about this for a moment (I know I had to in the beginning - I was sure I was missing something).The movie is called "Flight", not "The Man Who Attempted to Stop Drinking but Just Couldn't Help Himself". Seriously, this movie had the odd, twisting plot line of your average pretzel, crunchy or otherwise. It wasn't the fact that he couldn't make up his mind. Even though that was pretty annoying, it wasn't nearly as irritating as how the plot never moved forward. He quits, he starts again, he quits, he starts again. And then he goes to jail. What's up with that? Don't even get me started on Kelly Reilly. She's an alright actress, but she played a pointless character. I understand she was added for moral – or in his case sexual – support. I, as your usual movie fanatic, was hoping maybe she would be an influence on him because she quit and he obviously needed to get sober. However, when it became evident to the watcher that she wasn't helping, she as a guidance device fell flat. I think the writers realized this too, because after one little argument she leaves. And that's the end of "Nicole", of whom we spent half an hour figuring out the background of. What the heck were these guys thinking? As for Mr. Washington, this was definitely not his best movie, but even when he sucks he's good. Don Cheadle was the same way.
I'm not sure what I was supposed to think about the whole 'prodigal pilot' thing. He must be immensely talented if he can manage to save 106 people from a plane that went from nose-dive to a somewhat typical crash. He lost control, and it seemed like it was only a faulty part, but even I was skeptical of that. Which was it that really caused the crash? Could he have saved everyone if he was sober? So there's the flaw they forgot to at least cover: Cliffhangers. A good movie would leave you with interpretive questions, not actual plot question you need the answer to in order to appreciate . . . whatever it was they were trying to accomplish.
The crash scene was very well directed. My heart was pounding and I was barely able to refrain myself from screaming out loud "This! This is how drinking ruins your life!!" I saved myself from many glares of the people who probably thought this movie was the greatest thing since Forrest Gump. Really, it seemed to me like the director (Robert Zemeckis) did what he could with what he had to work with. This movie would have completely crashed (pardon the pun again) and burned. I mean, this wasn't the worst movie ever invented, but it irked me that everything I thought it was going to be never showed up.
In summary, it was alright, but a HUGE step down from the "fabulous" I thought it would be. So, maybe I'm just the insensitive schmuck whose opinion is characteristic of someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. I suppose that's true. Still, won't change this movie. "Flight" is yet another piece of living proof that it is indeed possible to go the wrong direction with a movie that could have easily been saved. I was disappointed because I waited through two hours of a circular plot to see something – anything – different happen. I waited because I thought he would change, making the writers able to transform him from an alcoholic accused of manslaughter to a lost man who travels down the long, self-restraining road to soberness. I thought this movie would be different, but I was wrong and walked from the theater disappointed but glad I had free movie passes.