thoughts on Flight

Hey, guess what's not on tonight? Nashville. Guess what are reruns? Both Modern Family and Suburgatory. Guess who has no excuse not to grade? Me! But first: this blog.

So, Denzel Washington's character, Whip Whitaker, is in this hotel room with a nearly naked woman, having an argument on the phone with his ex-wife about money for their son's private school tuition. It is morning, but he drinks from a half-finished beer as he talks, and he keeps trying to rush her off the phone because he "has a flight." After getting off the phone, he does a couple of lines of coke. Guess what? He's the pilot of this flight that he is in such a rush to get to. Yeah. I know that this shouldn't be a shock given the previews, but still, I'm sitting there in the theater with my mouth hanging open. I'm not particularly afraid of flying in general, but on the few individual times I have been scared on a flight, it has been because of bad weather and turbulence. It has never occurred to me that my pilot might be drunk and/or on drugs. So, something new to worry about, I guess.

So, something goes wrong on the flight, and the plane starts plummeting rapidly. They are almost certainly going to crash. Whip-- who, by the way, has stealthily fixed himself a screwdriver from the beverage cart WHILE TALKING TO PASSENGERS WITHOUT ANY OF THE PASSENGERS KNOWING (again, this shit just blows my mind)-- does some seriously good, instinctive flying and manages to land them basically safely in a field (six out of the 102 "souls" on board died). The accident was almost certainly due to faulty machinery, and almost certainly had little if anything to do with the fact that Whip was drunk and high while flying the plane. Regardless, there is a toxicology report showing that Whip had a blood alchohol level of .24 (the legal limit for driving a car is .08, as his lawyer points out) and had cocaine in his system. The tension of the film, then, revolves around whether Whip will face consequences for his actions, and whether he will stop drinking.

It is an odd movie in that for a long stretch, I wasn't really sure where it was going, or where I wanted it to go. I wanted Whip to stop drinking. I felt that he should face consequences for his actions. He keeps insisting that the crash wasn't his fault, and it probably wasn't, but obviously there should still be some punishment for flying a plane drunk. The middle portion of the movie mainly consists of Whip repeatedly promising not to drink and not keeping that promise. I suppose that is probably how addiction really works, and that the movie gets this right; however, as a story, it gets a little tiresome. I think that it is also an issue that Whip seems so remorseless for most of the movie; clearly, he has lost, or is on the verge of losing, everything important to him because of drinking, and he just keeps insisting that he doesn't have a problem. It is just frustrating to watch someone who doesn't want to help himself. Again: I imagine that this is also how it would feel to watch a real addict who doesn't want to get help, and that the movie gets this right. Again, still not overly compelling as a movie plot.

There is also a recurring theme of faith in the movie that is present, but doesn't really go anywhere. Whip crashes into a church when he lands the plane. There are multiple references to the idea that what happened might have been an "act of God" or that it might have been preordained, and one character states at one point that life is much easier when you accept that you don't have control, and that everything is in God's hands. These references pop up often enough to qualify as a theme, yet it isn't really clear what the film wants us to think about all of this, or even really what Whip thinks about all of this. I know that part of Alcoholics Anonymous involves admitting that there is a higher power and that you are powerless over your addiction and that I guess he needs to get to that point before he can get better, but...again, for much of the movie he just seems more interested in insisting that his drinking isn't a problem than in anything else.

Hmm, what else? There is a love interest named Nicole, and a lawyer played by Don Cheadle, and a character played by Bruce Greenwood who has something to do with the airline, and a drug dealer played by John Goodman. This is the first time I have ever seen Bruce Greenwood not be evil, and John Goodman is pretty funny as the drug dealer. Still...eh. This movie was just okay, you guys. Not horrible, but not terribly interesting, either.