Showing @ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 22 – Thu 28 Feb
Robert Zemeckis / USA / 2012 / 138 min
Flight is being billed as director Robert Zemeckis’ return to live-action filmmaking after a prolonged period of digitech animation with Polar Express, Beowolf and A Christmas Carol. The director of Cast Away, Forrest Gump and Back to the Future returns to making films for adults. We know this because of the prolonged nudity, drug abuse and family turmoil that besets the first scene of Flight.
Denzel Washington is Whip Whitaker, ace pilot, womaniser and drunk whose life (and plane) come crashing to earth in a heart-stopping opening act that has to be the best action sequence of the year. Given a second chance by God, luck or life, Whip must pull himself together as the air-crash investigators dissect the intoxicated exploits that led to the miraculous survival of almost everyone on-board.
Denzel brings his usual watchability to the screen, even though his turn here is less than dignified, and is up for an Oscar for his efforts. The supporting cast, particularly the crisp Don Cheadle as a weasely lawyer attempting to literally get his client off with murder and John Goodman playing Withnail & I‘s Danny the drug dealer for the Internet age are highlights. Unfortunately, after a seat-rest gripping opening act, the film dramatically slows down and Whip tests an audience’s ability to stay invested in a character who commits constant baffling acts of self-destruction. A love interest side-plot goes nowhere and the main arc has a crushing inevitability about it. The heavy-handed symbolism, the decapitation of a church steeple during the crash for instance, might ring a bit tiresome for some. And the film plays it safe by never once acknowledging that Whip’s inebriated state is what gave him the superhuman bravery to stay cool and save everyone on board. Worth seeing for its opening act and satisfying, if predictable, ending redemption yo-yo; but like John Goodman’s scenes, these elements take second place to a preachy, flabby, lesser film.