After watching the first five minutes of Flight you will never look at a flight attendant the same way. Naked, drunk and with lines of coke littering the hotel room, Katerina Marquez (Nadine Velazquez) has an unusual get ready for work routine. When you realise the man she is allowing to get away with a cheeky “crack of dawn” comment whilst draining a beer bottle and “tidying up” some of the lines of coke is the pilot, Whip (Denzel Washington), you might want to consider taking the train.
Certainly the passengers of the flight he was piloting that morning will have wished they did. During takeoff the weather is atrocious and Whip pushes the plane faster and higher to try and escape the storm. During these scenes your heart really is in your mouth as the jet screams, like the guitars on the rolling stones soundtrack, as it groans under the pressure. Whip’s decisions seem sound however when they make it into some clear sky. He rewards himself with a sneaky triple vodka & orange and a nap. However a mechanical failure wakes him and soon causes the plane to plummet towards the ground. It is only through some drastic actions, allowing the director to create some truly stunning shots, that Whip is able to get the plane down without the complete loss of human life.
Whip is one of the lucky ones, he survives. Six people were not so lucky. So do we reward him as a hero for saving ninety six people or condemn him as a villain as we will never know if a sober whip (Political oxymoron joke here) might have saved everyone? Whip himself is very clear on this, “Nobody could have landed that plane like I did!”, almost becoming a catch phrase. For the rest of us it is a great example that things aren’t always black and white, especially when it comes to issues like morality.
There are some light hearted moments, including the over-the-top Christian copilot’s wife using “praise Jesus” like it is a form of punctuation and a “line” from the airlines owner that made me laugh out loud. John Goodman, looking like he has wandered off the set of The Big Lebowski, plays Whip’s dealer and overflows with almost too much energy. Luckily Don Cheadle is there to balance things out, injecting as much fun as a dead clown. It is however the scenes with Cheadle that prickle with tension rather than the slightly unreal ones with the sycophantic Goodman.
The remainder of the film has two main themes. Whip coming to terms with the fact that he is an alcoholic and the investigation into the cause of the crash, including if Whip’s drinking was a factor. When dealing with addiction you need to get professional help so Whip invites a recovering heroin addict, Nicole (Kelly Reilly) to live with him. She might be into a more serious drug but what she has going for her is that she isn’t in denial. Whip however clearly is, as he battles through a range of emotions from anger to despair. Ultimately these two strands come together with Whip having to choose between freedom or inner peace. Denzel does a great job of displaying a full range of emotions on screen. In particular the scenes where he has to beg favours from old friends, showing just how vulnerable his character is, are worthy of the Oscar nomination alone.
Flight is an entertaining, but understandably heavy, trip into the world of addiction and moral ambiguity. Ironically I left feeling like I could do with a stiff drink.
Flight is available for boarding from 1st February 2013.
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writer: John Gatins
Stars: Denzel Washington, Nadine Velazquez, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman
Runtime: 138
Country: USA
Film Rating: 
