Flight (2012) Movie Review

Denzel Washington is William “Whip” Whitaker, a pilot / captain for a domestic airline. At the start of the movie, he and a girl, Trina, a flight attendant he has been having an intimate relationship with for quite some time, wakes up to the sound of the alarm clock; both of them are unclothed.

By the looks of the morning after, both of them has had one hell of a night: sex, alcohol, drugs. Whip obviously hasn’t gotten enough sleep, so to wake up, he snorts cocaine, then gets ready for work. On the plane, he is greeted by the same flight attendant, and you can tell that both of them remain professional at work.

Even before Whip’s plane takes off, the place is already soaked. But the condition worsens as the plane goes higher above ground. Turbulence is experienced, but the plane makes it through thanks to Whip. As the auto-pilot is on, Whip takes a moment to chat with the passengers. But while doing that, he secretly opens three mini bottles of vodka and steals a nap on his seat.

Then, the plane starts to go on a steep dive...low, low, and lower it goes.

But Captain Whip stays calm, in control, and determined to land the plane on safer grounds. Through the help of his co-pilot and a flight attendant, Margaret, he manages to land his passengers to safety. But not all of them survive the crash. Out of 102 passengers, 6 of them are killed -- 4 passengers, and 2 crew; one of them is Trina.

Whip opens his eyes and realizes he’s in a hospital in Atlanta. And the story of his struggles begins.

• Denzel Washington - Capt. William "Whip" Whitaker; an excellent pilot who is under fire because the plane he piloted killed 6 people despite saving more than 100
• Kelly Reilly - Nicole Maggen; drug and alcohol addict who met Whip at an Atlanta hospital where both of them were admitted in
• Don Cheadle - Hugh Lang; Whip’s attorney who would want nothing but to prevent Whip from getting jailed
• Bruce Greenwood - Charlie Anderson; representative of the pilot’s union who works together with Hugh Lang to achieve the same objective
• Jason Goodman - Harling Mays; the mouthy and burly man who supplies Whip with drugs regularly
• Tamara Tunie - Margaret Thomason; a flight attendant who Whip asked for help during the turbulence on the plane
• Nadine Velazquez - Katerina "Trina" Márquez; the flight attendant Whip is having an intimate relationship with

I’d like to make this review as simple as possible. So in bullets, I’d like to highlight some of the good points that I saw in this movie.

1. Not what it seems
The trailer shows a plane that’s about to crash, and how Whip tries to maneuver it to safety. But just when you think it’s all about planes and flying, there’s something much more that the movie wants to discuss. Of course, I’m not going to divulge what these issues are because I’d like you to find them out yourself. But I have to say that the plane is a good “distraction.”

2. Denzel Washington’s acting
I have to say that the casting is good. As previously mentioned, I’m not a big fan of Denzel because I think that he over-acts sometimes. But I have to say that in this movie, I was pleasantly surprised at his acting. It was spot on.

I remember telling my friend, " Okay. I give up. No one could have done a better job in this movie than Denzel."

3. John Goodman
While I was doing this review, I had to do my research on the complete cast. When I saw John Goodman’s name, I was like, “Was that John Goodman?” He played the role of a drug dealer, and he was pretty convincing -- from the unwashed hair up to the get-up. The only thing that I didn’t like in his character, Harling Mays, is the fact that it’s been done before. I saw a resemblance of this annoying character in Inspector Tarconi (François Berléand) in Transporter 3, which stars Jason Statham.

The movie opens with Whip and his flight attendant girlfriend waking up when the alarm goes off. The woman is completely unclothed. Is this really necessary? When I bought the tickets, I went alone. So the saleslady asked if my companion was at least 13 years old. I found out later that the movie was rated R-13 (at least here in the Philippines). And when I saw the naked woman scene, I understood why. But what I can’t understand is, is the nudity even necessary?