PREMISE
A pilot transports an Air Marshal accompanying a fugitive to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar, and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.
THE GOOD STUFF
MARK WAHLBERG- Believe it or not, this is the first outright villain Mark Wahlberg has played since FEAR came out in 1995. He’s played a lot of d-bags since then, but never anything as scene-chewing-antagonistic as this. I’m not going to say he’s missed his calling or anything, but he should be doing a lot more stuff like this.
This movie is cheesy as hell, and Wahlberg hits the nail right on the head in that cheesy kind of maniacally evil way that you would see in 90s-style films. He is all menace and nothing else. For a cheesy movie such as this, this is the type of villain that it needs in order for it to run smoothly. Wahlberg is one of those actors that you need to put in exactly the right thing for him to shine. I think Wahlberg would be a spectacular villain no matter what the film called for, but especially in something like this, he puts on a hell of a show.
MICHELLE DOCKERY- I feel that not many people know who Michelle Dockery is (outside of DOWNTON ABBEY fans), and her performance in this film might surprise many people even though it shouldn’t. She really gets all of the challenging stuff to do in this film. This is a physical role that requires bouts of humor, and many of her scenes that are supposed to push the story forward are all done via phone conversations. (I’ll get to that in a second) I can only imagine it’s hard to make cheesy materials like this have some kind of a heart, but that’s what she does.
THE BAD STUFF
TOPHER GRACE- I don’t want to put anybody in a box here, but Topher Grace only works when the film is a flat-out comedy. I try really hard with Grace. But when I look at films like BlacKKKlansman, Spider-Man 3, Mona Lisa smile or even smaller cameos like traffic and interstellar……
It’s not like he’s doing a whole bunch of dramatic stuff here that goes off-brand; it’s just that a lot of it is forced comedy. Grace shines in movies like GOOD COmPANY or WIN A DATE WITH TAD-HAMILTON! where he’s the main character, and we see him anchor a comedy. Stuff like this doesn’t work. He’s kind of the sore thumb here, and I hate to say that.
THE UGLY STUFF
This film was one of the 29 film projects that were allowed to film during the sag-aftra strike of 2023. I don’t know what restrictions were put on the production, but the story seems cut at the knees.
There is so much on-the-nose dialogue about plot points told off-screen that directly influences the characters’ actions on the plane. In the second act, Michelle Dockery’s character has many phone conversations at once, completely derailing the film’s pace. The ending is about as abrupt as anything I’ve seen in a movie theater in quite a long time.
Given that this was a Blacklist screenplay, I have a feeling that this final product was not what was on the page, given the talent involved. But that’s just a guess from me.
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To further elaborate on that last point….. It’s even more bizarre to see what’s on-screen and to know that Mel f****** Gibson directed this. Whether you like him or not, one must understand that he is an elite talent when it comes to directing motion pictures. This here seems way beneath the scope of every other project he’s ever done. There’s nothing ambitious about this, which is highly uncharacteristic of any Blacklist script that I’ve ever read or heard of.
It’s early wintertime. Perhaps the film year hasn’t gotten a nice kickoff yet. A lot of dump-off movies are showing around this time. Flight risk sadly justifies being released around this time of year Take that for what you will.Â
FLIGHT RISK is in theaters now
