By Robbie Jones
For the first time since 2000’s Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis graces the big screen with a live action film, as we take to the skies and back again with Denzel Washington in the character driven, thought provoking Flight.
Captain William ‘Whip’ Whitaker (Washington) is a drug addicted, alcoholic pilot, who heroically saves nearly a hundred lives in a devastating plane crash. As he recovers, he finds that he has become a national hero, but it goes downhill from there. It is found that Whip had both alcohol and drugs in his system during the crash. Finding solace in a fellow drug addict (Kelly Reilly), and help from his lawyer (Don Cheadle), Whip finds himself on an emotional struggle to get his life back on track.
It appears Denzel Washington is back where he belongs. I for one have always thought he is an incredibly talented actor, an opinion shared by many others, but his career hasn’t always been smooth. Despite achieving 2 Oscars (Glory, 1989 and Training Day, 2001), and a series of great films from the 90s and early 2000s (Malcolm X, Philadelphia, Crimson Tide, Man on Fire), he’s had his fair share of critical duds. Since Training Day, Denzel has been criticized for his involvement in films such as Deja Vu, Safe House and The Book of Eli, not to mention a lot of criticism for Tony Scott’s The Taking of Pelham 123, which I for one have absolutely no problem with and consider it one of his best films. But now, he’s earned his first Oscar nomination in 12 years, finally being recognised by the Academy again for his excellence.
It appears Denzel Washington is back where he belongs. I for one have always thought he is an incredibly talented actor, an opinion shared by many others, but his career hasn’t always been smooth. Despite achieving 2 Oscars (Glory, 1989 and Training Day, 2001), and a series of great films from the 90s and early 2000s (Malcolm X, Philadelphia, Crimson Tide, Man on Fire), he’s had his fair share of critical duds. Since Training Day, Denzel has been criticized for his involvement in films such as Deja Vu, Safe House and The Book of Eli, not to mention a lot of criticism for Tony Scott’s The Taking of Pelham 123, which I for one have absolutely no problem with and consider it one of his best films. But now, he’s earned his first Oscar nomination in 12 years, finally being recognised by the Academy again for his excellence.
And he truly deserves it… His performance is nothing short of amazing. Whip is a broken man; one heroic act made him famous, but one drink would’ve been enough to bring him down. Denzel practically breathes pure emotion, even if it’s only some scenes where we see the full extent of his feelings. His facial expressions and his voice guide us through his thoughts over the course of the film. One of my favourite things about Flight was that there wasn’t a single bad performance. Don Cheadle, a man who has always been a decent actor, gives a fantastic performance, giving a great sense of friendliness, with supporting roles filled by Kelly Reilly, Tamara Tunie and Melissa Leo to a great standard. But there is one star in this film who is criminally underused: John Goodman. He plays Harling Mays, Whip’s best friend and drug dealer who appears in literally 2 scenes and yet he steals the show in both. He strides in, a rough beard and long hair, cool music playing, and in both scenes is surprisingly helpful. At first, he comes off as the kind of character you’re supposed to dislike but then you find he is quite a nice guy.
Let’s take a look at the one scene that attracted everyone to the cinema: The plane crash. I’ve been going to the cinema my whole life, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I really got into films and started going to the cinema regularly. Now in my whole cinema going life, from The King’s Speech to Les Miserables, I have never witnessed a scene quite as ridiculously tense and involving as the plane crash. I’ll be honest; my friends and I tend to make jokes whilst watching films (hopefully not disturbing others) but not a word was spoken. It reels you in, it grabs you by the collar and says “Nope, we’re not letting you go” and you find yourself enveloped in the drama, the uncertainty, the suspense, there’s so much to it and to see it on the big screen is phenomenal. Then I became concerned… If the plane crash was the scene everyone was talking about, that everyone was praising and that everyone was seeing the film for? How will the rest of the film fair in comparison? Will it suddenly drop and become boring/less interesting?
Short answer: No. Long answer: HELL no. Whilst no other scene in the film quite reaches the height of that, it still manages to be tense in much subtler ways, mainly in the decisions that we watch Whip struggle to make.
Coming out of the cinema, my only complaint was that I felt the film was 20 minutes too long. However, after a lot of consideration, I couldn’t think of a single part of that film that could’ve been cut, so now I’ll say my only complaint was the ridiculous underuse of John Goodman. Otherwise, I say Flight is an excellent film with astonishing performances and the most heart pounding film experience of my life. 5 Stars.
Short answer: No. Long answer: HELL no. Whilst no other scene in the film quite reaches the height of that, it still manages to be tense in much subtler ways, mainly in the decisions that we watch Whip struggle to make.
Coming out of the cinema, my only complaint was that I felt the film was 20 minutes too long. However, after a lot of consideration, I couldn’t think of a single part of that film that could’ve been cut, so now I’ll say my only complaint was the ridiculous underuse of John Goodman. Otherwise, I say Flight is an excellent film with astonishing performances and the most heart pounding film experience of my life. 5 Stars.
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