Denzel’s great, Flight isn’t.
As one of the few actors in Hollywood on a first-name basis with everyone, Denzel Washington gets a lot of free passes for being in bad movies.
After two different train movies (The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and Unstoppable), a post-apocalyptic schlock-fest (The Book of Eli) and a bland action film (Safe House), Washington was pushing the limits of just how many times he could cash in on his trademark glare.
Alas, we have Flight — beaten down by awful pacing and clunky writing, it’s a massively imperfect film that still manages to prove why Washington is an Oscar-winning leading man.
First and foremost, movie-goers excited by Flight’s electrifying trailer need to understand the movie is not director Robert Zemeckis’ (A Christmas Carol) big-budget airplane disaster movie.
It’s clear after a decade spent directing animated movies, Zemeckis was ready to get back into making movies with live-action adult drama. Flight is much less a visual extravaganza — a la Back to the Future or Death Becomes Her — and more a character study in the vein of Cast Away. And who better to join Zemeckis on his Oscar quest than Washington, who hasn’t seriously flexed his skills since American Gangster?
Flight isn’t really about the incredible plane crash that frames the trailer. Instead, the vast majority of the movie deals with that airplane’s pilot, Whip Whitaker (Washington), and his alcoholism.
Alcoholism is dealt with in fiction almost constantly, though rarely with the grace Washington brings to the performance. It’s easy for an actor to slip into pastiche while playing drunk, a potential pitfall Washington admirably avoids despite the film’s cliches and oft-abysmal dialogue.
Even the most die-hard Washington lovers will absolutely hate Whip — and I mean that in the best way possible. Washington brings empathy, frustration and anger to the role all at once — no minor feat.
The first 30 minutes of Flight is damn near perfect. The build-up from Whip’s morning routine to take-off to the inevitable crash is gut-wrenching and horrifying, with just a slice of nervous humor. Take note: You may not ever want to get on an airplane again after watching this.
The whole first act is intercut with a parallel story about heroin addict Nicole (Kelly Reilly, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) and her struggles. The point is obvious: No matter your station in life, when you’re an addict, you’re always at rock bottom.
Her connection to the main plot becomes clear later on, but if the rest of the film had been as complex as its first act, it would have even more affecting when the two addicts finally meet.
Instead, the film slows to a crawl after the crash — Whip’s addiction is called into question during the investigation. The next 90 minutes are a ponderous slog toward the hearing that could land him in prison.
Meanwhile, there’s a lot of tentative talk about God and the soul, but the themes never come together in an interesting way.
Through all of this, Washington gives a killer performance that brings much-needed energy to a narrative that’s going nowhere fast. There’s a moment just before the hearing when it seems as though the frenetic pace of the crash will return, but it’s gone in an instant.
That’s the story of Flight, though. The other top-billed actors barely get enough run time to even qualify as a cameo — John Goodman (Trouble with the Curve) has two short scenes as Whip’s lovable drug dealer Harling Mays and Don Cheadle (The Guard) is attorney Hugh Lang, but seen only in a small portion of the film.
It’s a film that starts out strong and then never reaches such heights again, ending with the most painfully silly melodrama possible, made worse by Whip’s unbelievably passe speech about finally being “free” of his addiction, or whatever.
By this point, any discerning movie-goer will have completely given up on Flight as Oscar bait, Washington being the sole exception.
So cheers to you, Washington — everyone who sees Flight will be reminded why you are important, but the movie itself is as interesting as a long layover.
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