May Flights Of Angels Lead You To Sobriety . . . Or, Flight Review

Flight, directed by Robert Zemekis and starring Denzel Washington, is the story of William "Whip" Whitaker, an alcoholic who also happens to be a pilot.  I walked into this movie knowing very little, save what I'd seen on the trailers.  It looked like it was about a pilot who'd pulled off the miraculous crash-landing of his plane, a la Sully Sullenberger.  The trailer made it sound like the pilot was then going to be the target of a malicious government smear campaign to discredit his heroism and miraculous flying.

That's about the opposite of what this movie is about.  It's about addiction, redemption and the dark night of the soul.  And then its about the leap of faith that moves an alcoholic from his addiction toward salvation.  The religious themes in this movie were abundant, perhaps even overbearing, and it often meandered toward maudlin.  But at its core it's a movie about a man coming to terms with an addiction in the face of intense scrutiny.

Maybe all addicts feel this way.  I have to imagine that the lying and repression makes every question by a concerned loved one feel like an interrogation, and the well-intentioned inquiries are as intrusive as a horde of paparazzi.  So framing the story of alcoholism in the light of a plane crash is a good way of looking at how alcoholics come to terms with themselves and the consequences of their addiction.

As Zemekis's first live-action movie since Cast Away, it is ably directed, with fine work from everyone involved.  But the tone of the movie is simply off. So many of the appalling actions made by Whitaker are presented in a humorous and down-right comedic tone, so that the audience is left wondering what the big deal was anyway.  Binge drinking, snorting coke, driving drunk, flying drunk, are all presented with a humorous undertone so that when the eventual rock-bottom is hit, we're left wondering why.  Whitaker never seemed to have experienced his dark night of the soul; his leap of faith is made for the benefit of the audience, not the character.  This oddly inverted tone left me feeling uncertain, and at times apathetic.

Ultimately, the movie is a character-driven examination of one man's path toward redemption which meanders in places, is hilarious in some places (especially the use of secondary and tertiary characters--the chain-smoking cancer patient, John Goodman as a drug dealer, and Don Cheadle's deadpan delivery.)  Nevertheless, it was a movie that was heavy-handed, sentimental and sometimes dry.  Overall, it was an uneven job on Zemekis's part, but a fine addition to Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Melissa Leo, Bruce Greenwood, Kelly Reilly, and John Goodman's collective oeuvre.

I'd recommend this movie to a friend.