Movie Review: Flight (2012)

Flight is the next movie in my Oscar watch list. Robert Zemeckis has a massive comeback after directing Castaway.

Denzel Washington as Capitan Whip Whitaker is a person who lands a crashing plane saving the lives of tens passengers. He seems to be a hero, because no one had before landed a plane with both engines burning. But there is something that eclipses his heroism - alcoholism. 

Whitaker is an alcoholic pilot, who drinks all the time, before the flight, during the flight and after it. However he never had  made any single mistake. During one of the runs, something happens that is not under control of any pilot. And now he has to tell everyone about his addictions. 

Flight is more about personal tragedies. Nicole is another character fighting against her drug addiction. She has lost all the people she cared about because of bad habits, just like Whip did. Whip is divorces, has not seen his son for years, lost job and now he's depressed. Nicole visited the hospital after overdose and now she is starting a new life. They both do and eventually help each other.

This is how it landed, technically.

I won't tell the ending, because I told beginning. However, I'll say for sure that the very first and the last 20 minutes is brilliant, in every sense. But the middle one hour and a half is like a low line that could be told in another 20 minutes. Well, maybe those waste minutes add more drama, but I still think I could live without that. (And the movie could be better the same time)

The actors performances is brilliant. Denzel is great. He perfectly delivers the character of alcoholic pilot, with emotional explosions and unemotional, cold-faced speeches. Kelly Reilly (as Nicole) is awesome too. Her performance is confident and natural.

Oscar chances?

Well, Denzel has got a nomination. It will be very hard to win over Daniel Day-Lewis (almost impossible) and Hugh Jackman. But he's got the nod. I thought about the editing but this year the technical categories are too overwhelmed and I doubt Flight could win the place in any of them. The middle hour crisis won't help it to get the writing nomination or directing nods.

All in all, I liked Flight. But mostly because of its great performances. 

7/10