Rating: 4/5 stars
Verdict: You need to suspend disbelief before hitting play on "Flight." There are more than a few moments that wouldn't hold up in the cold light of reality. But if you put those aside, you're rewarded with a movie that starts as a tense drama with an incredible action set piece, and then transforms into a moving character study that only an actor of Denzel Washington's caliber could pull off.
Where to watch: Buy or rent "Flight" on YouTube
"Flight" is an important milestone in my Denzel Watchathon. It marks the end of a drought for the legendary actor and the beginning of a return to form.
Of course, this is a debatable claim in itself. Yes, "Flight" was Denzel Washington's first Oscar-nominated performance since he won for "Training Day" at the 74th Academy Awards. That 11-year gap between nominations is the longest of Denzel's career; the next-longest gap between Oscar-nominated performances was the seven years between "Malcolm X" and "The Hurricane." Since "Flight," he's been nominated a further three times.
But while those are indisputable facts, subjectively, some would argue Denzel put in a few of his best performances ever during that 11-year gap. "Man on Fire," "The Manchurian Candidate," and "American Gangster" notably all fall in that drought. In a poll we ran earlier this year, our readers even declared "Man on Fire" Denzel's best performance, upsetting "Training Day" for the top spot.
Regardless of whether Denzel was at a "low point" of his career or not, though, what cannot be denied is that his performance in "Flight" is worthy of its Oscar nomination. It's a nuanced performance that requires him to be a functioning alcoholic while transitioning from a borderline action-star aviator at the start of the movie to a cornered, broken man as the film enters its second and third acts. It's a must-watch and worth every penny to do so.
If you want to watch this movie before you read on, you'll want to buy or rent it from YouTube. It's also available on Amazon, but right now it's $2 cheaper through YouTube or Google Play. Unfortunately, "Flight" is not currently on any of the best streaming services.
'Flight' is a complex disaster movie/legal drama hybrid
"Flight" is very loosely inspired by real events. In fact, it makes no claim in its marketing to be based on a true story. But the events of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 did play a part in the crafting of this story, according to John Gatins, whose screenplay for "Flight" was also nominated for an Oscar.
Denzel stars as Whip Whitaker, a veteran airline pilot for SouthJet Air and, as we see in the opening moments of the movie, a drunk and an addict. Given that he's about to fly a commercial airliner from Orlando to Atlanta, it feels like a problem when we see him drinking, smoking and doing lines of cocaine before getting in the captain's chair of Flight 227.
Here are some of the other Denzel Washington movies I've covered to date in my Denzel Watchathon:
- "Carbon Copy" (1981)
- "Cry Freedom" (1987)
- "Glory" (1989)
- "Malcolm X" (1992)
- "Philadelphia" (1993)
- "Crimson Tide" (1995)
- "Remember the Titans" (2000)
- "Training Day" (2001)
- "Man on Fire" (2004)
- "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004)
- "American Gangster" (2007)
- "Safe House" (2012)
Read more: Every Denzel Watchathon movie so far
This builds a baseline of tension that ramps up once we learn this isn't going to be a normal flight. Whip will need to navigate this plane through an intense rainstorm; a tricky task in normal conditions, let alone when you're high as a kite.
But things quickly take a turn for the worse. Whip makes it out of the storm only to discover a mechanical failure causing the plane to enter an uncontrolled descent. Now, he has to do a Sully Sullenberger impression and crash-land a plane, all while still being very much drunk; he's even had a few extra vodkas on the plane once he cleared the initial storm.
I won't spoil some of the finer points of this action sequence, but suffice it to say it's incredible. It will have you on the edge of your seat, just waiting for the ultimate disaster.
The remarkable thing about "Flight," though, is that this is just the first act of the movie. Most of the movie is tonally disparate from this action thriller set piece. The rest of the movie transforms into a moving character study that borders on a legal drama.
Upon recovering from the crash, Whip is now forced to face the reality of his situation: he may have been a hero for landing the plane, but his alcoholism may leave him the fall guy for a mechanical failure. He did something essentially no other pilot could manage, and yet because he was drunk at the controls, he could face life in prison for manslaughter.
That sets up the moral conundrum of "Flight." Whip is wrong. He was drunk. He shouldn't be allowed to go unpunished. And yet, none of the lives lost in that crash are on him. All the lives saved are his to claim by a combination of luck, skill and (as the movie hammers you over the head with) divine intervention. So what is the right outcome if all these things are true?
Verdict: 'Flight' is Oscar-worthy
Ultimately, "Flight" does answer its moral quandary, albeit a bit neatly. It's not a happy ending for everyone, but you'd have to think that, in reality, things would be far messier than the conclusion of this movie lays out.
It's hard to imagine another actor successfully landing this plane, though. Denzel has to have the balance of a functioning alcoholic. He has to be a complete mess while letting nobody on the outside see it. He has to be able to switch from action star to emotional wreck with subtlety. He has to be charming enough for us to like him without undercutting the fact that he's arrogant and reckless enough that he had no qualms about flying a metal tube through rough skies at hundreds of miles an hour with 102 lives on the line, and he'd do it again without second thought.
Of course, it's Denzel. So he manages to do exactly that, and that's why it's no surprise his performance as Whip was Oscar-worthy. It's not the most grandiose performance of his. It doesn't have the same flash as his portrayal of Alonzo Harris in "Training Day" or Frank Lucas in "American Gangster. But it is just as worthy of being in conversation with those iconic roles.
If you've never seen it before, "Flight" is a must-watch. It was worth every penny I spent to stream it.
Buy or rent "Flight" on YouTube now