Come Fly With Me

"Flight"

It's been a long time, too long in my opinion since we've seen a live action film from director Robert Zemeckis.  We all remember the works of Zemeckis right?  Some of his films include Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Forrest Gump.  The last time we were treated to one of Zemeckis's live action outings was in the year 2000 with Cast Away.  Then for about the next ten years we had to endure The Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol.  These three films employed the use of motion capture technology.  Even though during the principle photography phase of production where Zemeckis was directing actors on a set, the end result was this weird, creepy looking animation that just didn't sit well with me.  Also the films themselves I thought were fairly insignificant in regards to his career.  Year after year passed with no live action from the once pioneering film director and I was beginning to wonder if Zemeckis was ever going to do another film where we'd get to see real actors on physical sets.  Finally my prayers were answered with Flight.  Welcome back Mr. Zemeckis, I missed you, but more importantly, cinema missed you too.

Airline captain Whip Whittaker (Denzel Washington) is a cocaine snorting, heavy drinking, cigarette smoking, ladies’ man.  He also happens to be one hell of a pilot.  Whip becomes quite the hero after he saves the lives of 96 (out of 102) passengers and crew aboard a flight bound for Atlanta.  A flight that was essentially doomed from the beginning or so we're led to believe.  You see despite Captain Whittaker heroic efforts he is also being sued.  After his toxicology report came back from the crash, he tested positive for alcohol and cocaine which he had ingested the morning of the flight.  Now we all know what he did was downright courageous but the families of the dead, the airline, and the big wigs who run the flight union think otherwise.  The fact of the matter is Whip is an alcoholic and he needs to get help before he drinks himself to death.  Does he have the strength and courage to admit that he needs help or is his alcoholism going to be merely swept under the rug?

Flight marks Zemeckis's glorious return to live action filmmaking.  This is the type of film that plays to all of his strengths as a director.  The performances he gets from all his actors are strong particularly from Washington and Kelly Reilly.  Reilly plays Nicole, a young woman who is a drug addict, but wants to get her life back on track.  The relationship that Whip and Nicole have interesting in that she knows she has a problem and wants to get help.  The way her life intersects with Whip's make her a fine contrast to Captain Whittaker.  Whip is in denial that he is an alcoholic and refuses to seek treatment for his addiction.  The scenes between the two actors are good because both of them have an understanding of how to push and pull at each other.  I haven't seen much of Reilly in other films but she holds her own quite well against Washington.  

The sequence leading up the plane crash is spectacular.  I can't think of any other director better suited to bring such a terrifying and harrowing experience to the big screen.  I was rather impressed with the plane sequence in Cast Away and I think in a lot of ways Zemeckis tops that sequence.  I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.  The sheer intensity of Washington's performance, camera movement, sound design, and editing all come together to create dynamic filmmaking.  Everything on the plane showcases why Zemeckis so good at his job.

The situation that our main character deals with is a very problem that millions of people face every day.  Flight deals with alcohol addiction in a realistic manner without being overly cliché in its presentation.  Characters come and go throughout the course of the two and half hour film, but each of them serve a purpose.  There's plenty of time for the characters to live and breathe giving the audience a clear portrait of who Whip was, is now, and what he has to become.  Even though a lot of ground is covered, nothing feels hurried or rushed.

Flight is an excellent character piece that marks a long overdue return by a director that cinema has been missing for over ten years.  Zemeckis puts aside the technology for a change to get back to what he does best, being a storyteller.  Visual effects should only aide but never completely tell a story to us and I think he lost sight of that for a period of time there.  A solid performance from Washington is accompanied by a fantastic character motif and mood setting soundtrack.  The film flies high and allows its director to spread his wings.  No need to reach for your barf bag because you won't find any turbulence here knowing that Flight is in good hands.