Flight (I) (2012)

An airline pilot saves almost all his passengers on his malfunctioning airliner which eventually crashed, but an investigation into the accident reveals something troubling.

Director:

Robert Zemeckis

Writer:

John Gatins

Stars:

Nadine Velazquez, Denzel Washington, John Goodman

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 31 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nadine Velazquez	...	Katerina Marquez
Denzel Washington	...	Whip Whitaker
Carter Cabassa	...	Son on Plane
Adam C. Edwards	...	Father on Plane (as Adam Ciesielski)
Tamara Tunie	...	Margaret Thomason
Brian Geraghty	...	Ken Evans
Kelly Reilly	...	Nicole
Conor O'Neill	...	Kip
Charlie E. Schmidt	...	Tiki Pot
Will Sherrod	...	Schecter
Boni Yanagisawa	...	Camelia Satou
Adam Tomei	...	Fran
Dane Davenport	...	Derek Hogue
John Crow	...	Field Reporter
Bruce Greenwood	...	Charlie Anderson

Storyline

Whip Whitaker is a commuter airline pilot. While on a flight from Orlando to Atlanta something goes wrong and the plane starts to fly erratically. With little choice Whip crashes the plane and saves almost all on board. When he wakes up in the hospital, his friend from the airline union introduces him to a lawyer who tells him there's a chance he could face criminal charges because his blood test reveals that he is intoxicated with alcohol and cocaine. He denies being impaired, so while an investigation is underway, he is told to keep his act together. However, letting go of his addiction is not as easy as it seems...

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Plot Keywords:

addiction | blood | cocaine | lawyer | alcoholic | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for drug and alcohol abuse, language, sexuality/nudity and an intense action sequence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 November 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

El vuelo

Filming Locations:

Atlanta First United Methodist Church - 360 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$31,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$24,900,566 (USA) (2 November 2012)

Gross:

$93,749,203 (USA) (8 February 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

ImageMovers, Paramount Pictures, Parkes/MacDonald Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

138 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the elevator, right after Whip get help from Harling Mays and Charlie Anderson, the music playing is "With a Little Help From My Friends".

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Goofs

During the take-off sequence, the co-pilot Ken Evans calls out "V1 speed" but the screen clearly shows that they are still at about 133 knots, below the indicated V1 speed of around 147 knots.

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Quotes

Whip: [to hearing committee] I'm drunk right now, because I'm an alcoholic.

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #21.21 (2012)

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Soundtracks

"Ain't No Sunshine"
Written & Performed by Bill Withers
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Flight is an expert character study

Flight takes off with a pulse pounding opening that sets the tone for the movie. However, Flight is not an action movie but instead is an in-depth character study of an alcoholic. While the film itself is a good story and an interesting analysis of one man's addiction to alcohol, the real treasure of Flight is the superb performance from Denzel Washington.

In Flight, Denzel Washington plays a pilot who must crash land a commercial airliner to save the passengers on board. This may seem like a hero story since Washington was successful in saving the lives of the majority of the passengers. However, the results in Washington's toxicology report showed that he had a large amount of alcohol and cocaine in his system. Suddenly, this turns into a criminal investigation and Washington is faced with the difficult decision of either accepting he has a problem with drugs and alcohol or spend the rest of his life in prison.

Flight is a brilliant character study because throughout the movie you aren't quite sure whether you like Washington or not. The man is a hero but he cannot stop drinking which constantly puts himself and others in danger. The director of Flight, Robert Zemeckis (Cast Away, Forest Gump), successfully makes the audience care about a man that should go to prison. Even though Washington's character is constantly letting you down, you still find yourself rooting for him. A director that is able to accomplish that feeling within his audience is doing a great job at film making and character development.

It is clear that Denzel Washington devoted himself to this character. Every move that Washington made was true and you believed every action his character was doing because Washington was so convincing. This film could have been very boring. After the first half an hour there isn't much action and the story drifts from a plane crash to Washington's struggles with alcohol. This could have been disappointing but instead, the performance of Washington is mesmerizing to the point where you are completely drawn into the film. The film didn't need to continue having as much action as the first part of the film (the plane crash) because watching the development of Washington's character was so interesting.

Even though Washington steals the film, he is backed up with some very respectable supportive acting. Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda, Ocean's Eleven) plays Washington's attorney and delivers some powerful moments in the film. Although, no one would ever expect a poor performance from Cheadle. John Goodman (Argo, The Artist) plays the comic relief in Flight. Even though Goodman is only in the film for a short amount of time, he delivers some of the best scenes in the movie.

Flight may not be as exciting as some of Denzel Washington's recent movies but it is definitely worth the money. The film is a very accurate portrayal of the struggles and despairs of being an alcoholic. With a fine director and an expert lead role along with many great supporting roles, Flight is a film that shouldn't be missed. The only minor problem with Flight is that it's a little lengthy when it doesn't need to be. Other than that, Flight is a very well made drama. A-