Review of the Movie Flight - Spoiler Alert

First, a quick medical update - my staples from the operation are out and I’m about to start the next round of chemo. In fact, the chemo will probably have started before I finish this blog post.

I’m still in the hospital, for one reason only, there is no room in the Cancer Center. It’s okay, though, I’ve got a terrific room and I’m getting along with the staff okay.

In the meantime, I’ll review the movie Flight. (Major Spoiler Alert - don’t read this unless you have already seen the movie or are sure you aren’t going to). 

Denzel Washington, in a superb performance, plays an airline pilot with a serious alcohol addiction. (He’s also into cocaine for the occasional pick-me-up). How serious is his alcohol addiction? He mixes three mini-bottles of vodka with some o.j. and takes it into the cockpit with him for the flight. 

As soon as the movie establishes Denzel’s status, we are swept into a nail biting, mind boggling flying action sequence. If I have it right, the lifters on the plane stop working. Denzel has to fly the plane upside down using the do-dads that normally take the plane down to lift it up. Then, at the last second, he flips the plane back upright and crash lands in a field. Denzel is totally calm and in control the whole time and saves the plane and almost everyone’s life.

As the movie plays out everyone who goes to the trouble to study what happened is convinced that Denzel is one of the few if not the only pilot who could have pulled off what he did. X number of pilots try simulations and none can save the plane.

Inevitably, his addiction becomes known and the lawyers, and agencies start hovering. Denzel is in a typical addict’s denial that he has a problem. I was really enjoying the whole thing, but I was having trouble figuring out if the movie was going to have a point other than the one that some people, no matter how screwed up, are capable of performing in a crisis. Then came crucial scene -

The young copilot had been in a coma since the crash. Denzel gets the word the young man has come out of his coma and rushes to the hospital. Denzel starts to lobby the young co-pilot to his side, but finds it unnecessary The young man, who we have known from early on is a devout Christian, tells Denzel that what he did was a miracle, and that Jesus had put him there for a purpose - not only to save the people on the plane but to be forced to confront his addiction. Now, most of you know that I’m not a religious person and don’t think Jesus puts anybody anywhere for any reason, but for the purposes of the movie plot, this scene really worked for me and tied the movie together. 

Rather than try to tap dance his way out of things, Denzel faces up, admits he’s an addict and goes to the slammer for a bit. He seems okay with it as the last scene shows him at the prison AA meeting. Four out of five stars for me.