Flight (2012)
Cast: Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood, John Goodman, Melissa Leo
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Robert
Zemeckis has made us wait long for his first live action feature film
since Cast Away (2000) and this wait has well been worth it. This
gripping drama takes hold of your attention from the minute it starts.
Captain
William “Whip” Whitaker (Denzel Washington) awakens in an Orlando hotel
room after a booze and sex filled night with very little sleep with
flight attendant Katerina Marquez (Nadine Velasquez), arguing on the
phone to his now divorced wife who is demanding more maintenance for his
estranged son’s higher education. He uses cocaine to be jolted awake,
as he is due to fly SouthJet Flight 227 to Atalanta. The weather is
overcast but Whip, being a skilled pilot takes off the plane through
turbulence and then turns it over to his co pilot Ken Evans (Brian
Geraghty). He then discreetly drinks vodka mixed with orange juice and
falls asleep. He is awakened by Evans just before the flight’s descent
and as he takes the controls, the plane goes into a steep dive due to a
malfunction, rapidly falling apart piece by piece. With no other choice,
he flips the plane upside down to stop the dive, maneuvers the plane
right side up, and then glides it away far from residential areas,
crashlanding it in a field. He loses consciousness on impact.
Whip
awakes in an Atalanta hospital with minor injuries, to be greeted by
his old friend from the Air Force Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood),
now representing the airline’s pilot union. He tells Whip that his
heroic skill saved 96 out of the 102 lives on board. An NTSB (National
Transportation Safety Board) official then briefs him that Katerina was
among the ones killed and that Evans is severly injured and put in a
coma. Whip meets Nicole (Kelly Reilly), a recovering drug addict in the
hospital and promises to visit her when he is discharged. He is sneaked
out of the hospital ward the following morning by his drug dealer friend
Harling Mays (John Goodman), who tells him that he has become a media
celebrity. Whip drives away to his late father’s farm to avoid the
media, decides to quit drinking, destroying his stash of alcohol.
Unfortunately, he relapses soon. He is called by Charlie and Attorney
Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle), the latter informing him that his
blood test was performed while he was unconscious revealing a high
alcohol content, which could get him a life in prison for both drug and
manslaughter.He storms off angily and visits Nicole, finding her getting evicted
and asks her to move in with him, beginning a relationship with her.
His alcoholism gets worse while Nicole on the other hand is getting
rehabilitated. She leaves him seeing no improvement in him. Whip also
visits Evans, finding that he has a very little chance of walking again
,who chides him for being drunk that day but accepting that the plane
was at fault.Whip is soon discovered by the media in his farmhouse
making him flee from there in an intoxicated state to his estranged
family, from where he is evicted as well. Hugh informs Whip that he has
trashed his toxicology report proving the incompetence of the testing
equipment, and now he just has to stay sober till the hearing, led by
NTSB investigator Ellen Block (Melissa Leo), which if all goes well will
allow Whip to walk away a hero.
Whip
is put in a guarded hotel room with no access to alcohol a day before
the hearing, but he somehow finds a way to the adjoining room,
discovering alcohol in its refrigerator. Hugh and Charlie find Whip
passed out the following morning, barely an hour before the hearing is
to begin. Harling is called to revive him and he uses cocaine to revive
him. A rejuvenated Whip goes for facing the hearing which is to decide
his fate.
Will
he lie in his usual manner to walk away free to continue his decadent
ways or will his conscience finally make him choose the painful but
right path? These answers will be best found onscreen.
Denzel
Washington is one of the best actors to grace the screen and can emote
more in one glance than the likes of Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt can with
pages of dialogues. His portrayal of a successful person who is
suicidally and stupidly dissolving his career, life and happiness in
alcohol and drugs is painfully realistic. As a person who shamelessly
lies, runs from the truth to the one who finally realizes that he has
been going wrong since a long time or as a pilot who
remains calm even in the face of an impending deadly crash, his
performance is a class act. This is certainly his best role in a decade
since Training Day and certainly marks his comeback after a string of
forgettable films.
John
Goodman gives the best cameo that you can remember and totally steals
the show for the hardly ten minutes that he is on screen. Don Cheadle
and Bruce Greenwood are left to play second fiddle to Denzel Washington,
but they are nevertheless very effective in the thankless roles the
script has for them. Kelly Reilly is effective in her supporting part as
well.
Robert
Zemeckis does a brilliant job here, and this film is no less than his
earlier classics like Forrest Gump and Cast Away. He keeps the story
line taut and pacy, avoiding being preachy about drug or alcohol abuse
or portraying the protagonist Whip Whitaker in any sympathetic light.
The dialogues are crisp and so is the storyline. The technical aspects
are well researched and nothing is overdone. The most important question
asked by the film is whether a “hero” is pardonable for his other bad
deeds ? Should he be allowed to get away for an act of his which would
have also endangered the lives of the very people he saved in the first
place, just because all ended well?
Come aboard ,folks. This one is a memorable ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment