powerful performances and brilliant directing keep Flight high off the ground

Rating: 9/10 (3 November 2012)

Robert Zemeckis is one director I never really think of when it comes to some of the best directors of all-time. But when you actually go back and look at his career, there hasn't been a lot to shake your head at. Director of an acclaimed franchise in Back to the Future, an Oscar winner for his direction for Forrest Gump, and the motion capture master behind The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol, it was exciting to hear that Zemeckis was moving past motion- capture and back into live action film. Even more exciting was the idea of Zemeckis working with Denzel Washington on a challenging film for both director and lead actor.
The result of Zemeckis and Washington's partnership is the film Flight, the story of an airline pilot who miraculously crash lands a nose-diving jet, saving the lives of 96 people. The conflict? Pilot Whip Whitaker is an alcoholic and was under the influence the morning of the crash, a crash that resulted in six deaths and could result in life in jail for Whitaker.
The opening thirty minutes of Flight are some of the most intense minutes of film this year. While we know from a synopsis or seeing a trailer that this plane is going to crash, the process of filmmaking the turbulent nose dive is brilliant by Zemeckis. The camera shakes seemingly uncontrollably as the plane starts to fail in the sky, bags and items fly about the cabin, passengers scream, and Denzel powerfully acts as Whip trying to regain control of the plane as it plunges to a certain crash. These moments are edge-of-your-seat, heart-pounding filmmaking at its best and something everyone will want to see on the big screen rather than from the comfort of their living room.
But after the crash, the film is quite different. While this may have started as an action packed story, it shifts to the drama of a stumbling alcoholic that can't keep himself from the urges of a drink or other influences. Very similar one of Zemeckis' other films, Cast Away, Flight starts off with a loud bang and turns into a slow character study completely spotlighting the protagonist.
This is, after all, what Flight is. It is not a drama, an action movie, a romance, or a comedy, even though it contains all of these elements. The film is a dark character study about a man who cannot resist the urges that have haunted him for years and years. It is a study of not only this character, but of the morality of him and the audience alike. How long can Whip continue to drink in excess and tell himself he has no faults for the plane crash? Even if the crash was mechanical failure, how can Whip not see the danger he put all the passengers in the minute he stepped onto that plane? And, even more importantly, how deep will the audience stumble down with him? We defend Whip from the very beginning, but as each addiction and issue begins to unravel, how long will we stand in his court? Zemeckis, Washington, and the screenwriters make it hard for us to want to jump ship, but they give us every reason to as the events of the film play out.
The other portion of the film is the relationships Whip has with his wife and son and a woman he met at the hospital named Nicole. Whip's wife and son have come to understand the alcoholic tendencies Whip has and they have separated themselves from that life, while Nicole, who was in the hospital due to a drug overdose, does not understand the man Whip is and slowly falls into a relationship with him. While Nicole tries to get herself better, Whip falls apart more and more and creates an environment that is awful for a recovering addict. Unable to help himself, his family, and his new love interest, Whip has truly hit a low of lows, and this isn't even calculating in the investigation from the government that could mean the rest of Whip's life is spent behind bars.
To read the rest of the review (IMDb form too short) visit: http://custodianfilmcritic.com/flight/