Flight.
Director Robert Zemeckis returns with his first live action film in over a decade with 'Flight'.
Starring the screen legend and impressive Denzel Washington (Whip Whitaker) , the film starts in a hotel room as a naked flight attendant wakes up a drunken Whip two hours before he's due to fly to Atlanta. As an out of shape Whip smokes some marijuana, snorts two lines of cocaine and downs some whiskey he's got his head straight ready for the impending flight. As you see Whip enter the cockpit he takes a few breaths of Oxygen to wake himself up, empty's three mini bottles of vodka into his orange juice and takes up his seat in the cockpit. With a new co-pilot by his side Whip takes some chances flying through a massive storm cloud causing alot of turbulence.
What comes next are the impending disaster scenes as Whip loses control of the plane as multiple problems occur. As the plane takes a nose dive Whip inverts and fly's the plane upside down and finally crash lands the plane in a field saving the lives of most of the passengers on board.
Next thing your in the hospital as Whip awakens from the crash to what is being shown on the TV in his room as him being hailed as a hero for saving so many lives. As Whip realises the error of his ways straight away he shys away from the drugs being given to him by his dealer (John Goodman).
Soon enough Whip is called in and told that his blood samples after the crash show levels of cocaine and high levels of alcohol in his system, meaning he was drunk while flying the plane. With implications of jail time if this information was to get out his union representative Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood) and his attorney Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle) work out a strategy for him for the hearing of the plane crash.
Their is of course a sub-plot involving a heroin addict Nicole (Kelly Reilly), they both meet at the hospital after Nicole overdoses and a the friendship begins. As they both become quite close they both fight their inner demons with substance abuse with Whip always losing the battle. With a rocky relationship with Nicole, his ex wife and son not wanting to see him and his failure to admit to his alcoholism Whip must make a decision. Keep lieing and just get through the hearing or admit his problems and face up to his actions?.
The film itself has a great storyline to it, Denzel Washington gives another amazing performance as Whip Whitaker who is an out of shape drunk, drug abuser. Some of the scenes in the film really do ring home and just show how destructive, self centred and blind a drunk person can be in the world and the damage they can cause. Kelly Reilly as Nicole is the opposite of Whip she works on her problems, gets clean and goes to AA meetings to sort out her life.
One slight problem I found is that the first 40 minutes of the film do have you on the edge of your seat as you feel your in the cabin about to crash. But then for the next two hours or so the film slows right down and you get Whip's backstory of his life. The film then becomes tense again and gripping as you see Whip sweat answering questions about the plane crash.
It is a great return for Robert Zemeckis, 'Flight' is at different ends of the spectrum to his last film as Zemeckis touches upon drug abuse, alcohol and violence it feels like he has done alot of growing up since 2000's 'Castaway'. A definite watch for anyone who enjoys a good film with plenty of life truths played out on screen and with Denzel Washington being a part of it you know it's a sure fire hit of a film.
8/10.
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