The film's a 7, but Denzel Washington is a 10

Rating: 7/10 (13 March 2013)

Denzel Washington's portrayal of a very flawed hero pilot which got him an Academy Award nomination in 2012 dominates the film Flight. All of his loved ones and all of his friends won't be able to help him with the jackpot he has himself in.
Denzel is an airline pilot who on a routine Flight from Tampa Bay to Atlanta encounters turbulence in the air and mechanical failure. He does a heroic job in bringing the plane in at all. Everyone agrees that most other pilots would have crashed with all on board dead. When he crash lands in a field only six fatalities occur. There are several injured however including our hero pilot.
But when he comes to in the hospital his toxic readings show traces of alcohol and cocaine. As we see later in the film he gets himself drunk and has developed a patented way of sobering up with a cocaine stimulant. Talk about living on the edge.
The whole airline industry from the pilots union to the airline to the FAA don't know what to do. Washington is a hero for what he did, but that addiction can't be hid. And he persists in his bad behavior.
This is one of the more complex portrayals of a character I've ever seen Washington do. In The Hurricane he's a hero who's been terribly unjustly wronged. In Training Day he gradually is revealed to be evil and corrupt. But here you don't know what to think. No doubt he's a hero, but he's also selfish and indulgent and can't even keep himself straight enough to get through a hearing on the crash. His own lawyer Don Cheadle is at his wit's end.
Melissa Leo has an interesting part as the hearing officer at the FAA, she's got a grain of toughness, but even she would like to give him the benefit of the doubt. But besides Washington, the one you will remember is John Goodman who has two memorable scenes as his drug connection for his cocaine cure.
The film Flight is a good one. But Denzel Washington might have picked up a third Oscar but for Daniel Day Lewis's Lincoln. He got more out of his role than most actors would have.