For the record, it's English. I was born in Tilbury, Essex, made temporarily 
American citizen?"
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the new film from director Robert Zemeckis is that it’s not what you might expect.
Inspired by the Alaska Airlines crash of flight 261 in 2000 where the pilot attempted to regain control of the plane by turning it upside down – sadly that flight had no survivors – Flight tells of Captain Whip Whitaker who gains control of a commercial airline plunging out of control. By turning the plane upside down he manages to regain an element of control and has the plane glide down into a field. Four passengers plus two attendants are killed in the crash, but everyone else on board survives, and the captain is deemed a hero. Then, as a routine procedure, a toxicology report is issued on the captain and it’s not good. The report reveals alcohol and cocaine in his blood, and the man once called a hero has a whole new drama on his hands.
The publicity machine would have you believe that Flight is an action-packed mystery thriller. It’s not. Far from it. The events of the plane crash occur in the first thirty minutes and the whole in-flight affair is a white-knuckle ride that might have you rushing to the phone to cancel that getaway trip you had planned. It’s the kind of sequence that would ordinarily be the climax, yet in Flight it’s the opening. What follows for the remaining two hours is a graphic drama of a man fighting his demons and unable to control them. This is an ‘R’ rated movie, and it earns its rating.
We know the captain is an alcoholic. After a gorgeous opening shot of a plane taking off we immediately cut to a hotel bedroom where we witness the captain hung over from a night of heavy drinking. He’s about to go to work and the only way he can face the day is by snorting a line of cocaine, which he does, repeatedly.
As played by Denzel Washington, we want to like the captain. He’s a generally good man and an excellent pilot. He really does perform something miraculous under pressure and there’s no doubt that had anyone else been at the controls in this particular situation all passengers would have perished. Captain Whitaker saves lives, but he’s a drunk, and no matter how many times those around him try to help him get on his feet, he falls back on old habits. At the screening, each time Whitaker reached for another bottle or snorted another line there was a collective groan from the audience. There’s a point where you might even give up on the character.
The film looks great. The widescreen photography has such clarity to it, the film is a pleasure to the eyes, plus director Zemeckis makes great use of a rock music soundtrack; its importance may not be immediately evident. After the captain snorts another line of coke the soundtrack bursts in with Feelin’ Alright by Joe Cocker. When John Goodman as the drug supplier bursts onto the scene we hear the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil. As Whitaker finds himself in a new romantic situation – a moment he doesn’t fully understand - his stereo is playing Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, and when in an elevator with two people who have been doing their best to set things straight for the pilot, the elevator speakers play a muzak version of The Beatles’ With A Little Help From My Friends.
If there’s a problem with the film it’s the order of events. The more I think about it the more I can’t help wondering if the overall project would have benefited from playing the crash in its entirety as a flashback at the end of the film rather than at the beginning, revealed only during the big climactic investigation. By keeping us waiting to see all the events until the final thirty minutes, a certain sense of mystery might have heightened the story. However, the film is what it is, and what we have is the story director Zemeckis intended to make.
Like the captain’s character, the film is flawed, but there’s no doubt that without the riveting performance from Denzel Washington there would have been no film at all. I don’t believe Flight will earn an Oscar nod, but
