Flight

FLIGHT (15)

D: Robert Zemeckis

Paramount (Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes, Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey & Robert Zemeckis)

USA 🇺🇸 2012

138 mins

Drama

W: John Gatins

DP: Don Burgess

Ed: Jeremiah O'Driscoll

Mus: Alan Silvestri

Denzel Washington (Whip Whitaker), Don Cheadle (Hugh Lang), Kelly Reilly (Nicole Maggen), Bruce Greenwood (Charlie Anderson), John Goodman (Harling Mays), Melissa Leo (Ellen Block)

Disguised as a disaster/action movie by it's promotional trailer, Flight is actually a sensitive drama about alcoholism & drug addiction.

Denzel Washington is brilliant as Captain Whip Whitaker, who averts a plane crash using unconventional methods, but then finds his conduct investigated following the aftermath of the heroic landing, which lost 6 lives from it's passengers & crew.

Denzel Washington rarely disappoints and thoroughly deserved his Oscar nomination for best actor & all the supporting performances are excellent, especially Don Cheadle as Whitaker's lawyer, Kelly Reilly as a fellow drug addict & John Goodman, who attempts to steal the show as a manic drug dealer.

Those expecting a plane crash adventure might be disappointed, but I thought this was the best movie that tackled the subject of alcoholism since 1995's Leaving Las Vegas (qv).

7/10