Flight
Opens Friday at Scotiabank
I know what youre thinking. This time around its a plane; last year it was a train, and wasnt it a subway car the year before that? What is it with Denzel Washington and transportation as co-stars?
But take heart: what begins as a big-budget disaster beast reveals the heart of an indie character study, with Washington delivering a career best.
The film begins like any other day. Whip Whitaker (Washington) wakes up drunk, with a cute companion in his bed. A little weed, a little coke, and its all good. But Whips not any other man. In the next scene we see him in his pilots uniform, preparing to fly an Atlanta-bound plane with 102 souls on board.
That jarring juxtaposition prepares us for what comes next: the planes malfunction, terrifying dive, and intense crash. Director Robert Zemekis, back with live-action after a decade of pioneering stop-motion films (The Polar Express, Beowulf, A Christmas Carol) employs in-your-face filmmaking from the very start, so that whether its a shot of the anxious co-pilot (Brian Geraghty) or up-close gauge readings, we feel as though were right there in the cockpit.
Its one of the best airline-disaster sequences in recent memory, but Zemekis infuses the chaos with a poignant moment when Whip coolly tells the lead flight attendant (Tamara Tunie) to leave a message for her son for when they eventually find the black box recordings.
Whip is hailed as a hero for saving most of the passengers but dread sets in as soon as the pilot wakes up and sees his old Navy buddy (Vancouvers Bruce Greenwood) at the foot of the bed. Its a bit of a show, warns Charlie, as reps from the pilots union, the NTSB and the media all line up for Whips side of the story. And if Whips toxicology report gets out, theyll be shouting for blood.
He fares no better when he meets his lawyer, Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle), whose first words to Whip are Death demands responsibility. Were trying to get it designated an Act of God, says Hugh. Whose God would do this? asks Whip.
At first glance Whip has nothing in common with rock-bottom addict Nicole (Kelly Reilly, fantastic) but a primer on the extent of Whips alcoholism proves they couldnt be more similar. A tenuous relationship develops, ever tested by Whips refusal to get treatment or even to get sober long enough for legal proceedings and Nicoles terror that Whip will bring her back into her dark addiction.
The success of the film hinges on its ability to segue from a disaster movie into a compelling legal and human drama without losing any of its intensity, and Zemekis pulls it off seamlessly. New suspense threads are introduced via when and how Whip will implode, and the depths that the suits will sink to in order to save the airline. John Goodman enters at key moments to advance this storyline as Whips dealer and only friend but those in the audience who think that his character is strictly for laughs fail to see the pathos of the situation.
A few sequences are eked out for too long (the wise and wise-cracking cancer patient, for example) and become preachy towards films end, but they do not detract from Washingtons virtuoso performance as a man clinging to his own lies, whatever the cost.
jcrawfordfilm@gmail.com
