There are only three components that make up a solid film
worthy of my personal respect and praise: a comprehensive script with compelling characters
and relationships, actors with depth and honesty, and cinematography or visual effects
that are captivating, perhaps even provocative. Flight has all of the above,
and some. Director, Robert Zemeckis (Cast Away, Forrest Gump, Back to the
Future) and screenwriter John Gatins (Real Steel, Coach Carter, Hard Ball) are
able to tell the story of a very ordinary man in what is nothing short of an extraordinary situation.
Thorough
character development, and articulation of character relationships are aspects
of film that separate the good from the great. As an audience member, we want
to connect to the characters in a film-we want to relate and to understand who
they are as people. Such a concept seems simple in thought, but it is one that I
feel has often been missing from recent cinema. Flight is wonderfully
written because it takes its time. You get to know each character-who they are,
where they come from, what makes them the way they are. You care about them,
you root for them-flaws and all.
Denzel
Washington plays Captain William “Whip” Whitaker, a divorced, middle-aged man
whose worst enemy is himself. The story chronicles Whip, a “functioning”
alcoholic who flies a plane the morning after a long night of drunken, narcotic
filled debauchery. The plane, from the moment it takes off is “doomed” and has one
mechanical mishap after another. In short, Whip is able to fly the plane to
safety, saving 96 of the 102 passengers, where in any other situation, all
would have died at the hands of any other pilot. The maneuvers he is able to
accomplish in the air to fly the plane to safety are nothing short of
miraculous. Whip is a hero. And although his alcoholism had nothing to do with
the crash of the plane, operating any vehicle under the influence of any substance
is illegal, and Whip now faces the responsibility for the lives of 6 people that
passed away on that fateful day. Denzel Washington epitomizes the tragic hero
with the tragic flaw. The raw
emotion he is able to access is remarkable. The Golden Globe nomination he
recently scooped up is well deserved and I would not be surprised if an Oscar
nom is soon to follow.
Cinematically,
Flight is able to accomplish something in 2 dimensions, no 3D film in recent
history has ever been able to accomplish. Watching the interior plane crash
scenes are intensely authentic, absolutely palpable. You feel as if you are in
that plane, part of the deterioration of this flight.
If
it’s still in a theater near you, I encourage you to go out and see this one.
Take the entire family. It has something for everyone.
