Flight

Rating: Null/10 (10 February 2013)

Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington), a former pilot in the Navy, has an early flight after a long night of drinking with flight attendant, Katerina, Marquez (Nadine Velazquez). After finishing a beer and doing a line of cocaine, the two get ready and leave to catch the flight. As Whip boards the plane, he asks Margaret (Tamara Tunie) for a cup of coffee and two Advil. Co-pilot, Ken Evans (Brian Geraghty) appears worried about Whips condition to fly, as he warns him that it is close to departure time. Shortly after they take off, bad weather kicks in and the plane and passengers experience severe turbulence. When Whip announces to the passengers that the bar service will be suspended for the flight, he pours two bottles of vodka in his orange juice, then returns to his seat and falls asleep. He awakens to Ken frantically trying to regain control of his side of the plane, right before they go into a complete dive. Whip takes control and inverts the plane to level it out before rolling it back and crashing into a field behind a church.
When Whip wakes up he is in a hospital, hooked up to machines and has bandages on his eyes and ankle. He is informed at that time that out of the 102 passengers on the plane, 96 survived the crash. At first, Whip is considered a hero for saving as many lives as he did – soon after, his blood results come back showing that he had alcohol in his system. The airline's lawyer on the case tells Whip that if he cooperates, he could make the blood results disappear. Dispute this, the two empty bottles of vodka were found in the planes trashcan and the question was who consumed the alcohol. If found guilty, Whip could potentially be charged with murder for the six lives that were lost on the flight. With so much going on, whip leaves town to stay at his late father's farm. When he arrives, he disposes of trash bags full of alcohol and flushes all of the drugs on the property. This is where the theme comes into play, which is facing your demons. Throughout the duration of the film, Whip tries to convince his friends, family, and the court that he doesn't have a drinking problem and that the plane did not crash because of alcohol related issues. Although he says this, he is drunk throughout the film and cannot function without the use of cocaine as well.
Denzel Washington nails his performance as an alcoholic in denial. His role in this movie is somewhat similar to his roles in both He Got Game and Training Day. In He Got Game, he plays a father who does not actively participate in his son's life, similar to how he is in this film. In Training Day, he plays the role of a police officer who is involved with drug misuse on the job, similar to his drug and alcohol problem in Flight.
The camera angles were one of the best technological aspects of the film, because they showed the insecurities and vulnerabilities of Whip and other characters, especially during the plane crash and scenes where Whip over drinks. This relates to the theme because you could see the internal pain and struggle associated with drug abuse and other problems. The low-key lighting was effective as well, because it affected the emotions of the audience. The shadows cast from the lighting set a mood of uncertainty and worry. The film ends with Whips court hearing, which he shows up drunk and high to. When asked the question of who drank the vodka found on the plane, Whip will be forced to either face his demons or continue down the path of destruction.