Flight (2012 film)
| Flight | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Zemeckis |
| Written by | John Gatins |
| Produced by | Laurie MacDonald Walter F. Parkes Jack Rapke Steve Starkey Robert Zemeckis |
| Starring | Denzel Washington Don Cheadle Melissa Leo Kelly Reilly John Goodman Bruce Greenwood |
| Cinematography | Don Burgess |
| Edited by | Jeremiah O'Driscoll |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 139 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $31 million[2] |
| Box office | $161,772,375 [3] |
Flight is a 2012 American drama film. It stars Denzel Washington. Flight is Robert Zemeckis' first live-action film since Cast Away and What Lies Beneath, which were both released in 2000, and the first R-rated film directed by him since Used Cars back in 1980, as well as the first ImageMovers release to date to have an R-rating. Flight was nominated for two Academy Awards at the 85th Academy Awards: Best Actor (for Washington) and Best Original Screenplay (for John Gatins).
Plot
On October 14, 2011, airline captain and recreational drug user Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) awakens in his Orlando hotel room with flight attendant Katerina Márquez (Velazquez) after a night of sex, alcohol, and very little sleep. After using cocaine to wake up, he boards SouthJet Flight 227 to Atlanta. After Whip threads the plane through severe turbulence at takeoff, copilot Ken Evans (Geraghty) flies the airplane while Whitaker discreetly mixes vodka in his orange juice and takes a nap. He is jolted awake just before their final descent and the aircraft goes into a steep dive. He rolls the plane upside down to bring it out of the dive and maneuvers the plane right-side up just before crash-landing in a field. He loses consciousness shortly after impact.
Whip awakens in an Atlanta hospital with minor injuries. He is greeted by his old friend Charlie Anderson (Greenwood), who represents the airline's pilots union. He tells Whip his heroism saved ninety-six out of one-hundred-two people on board. A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) official informs him Katerina was among those killed, and that Ken has been put into a coma.
Sneaking a cigarette in the stairwell, Whip meets Nicole Maggen (Reilly), who is recovering from an overdose, and promises to visit her when they leave the hospital. In the morning, his friend and drug dealer, Harling Mays (Goodman), picks him up and sneaks him away from the hospital, while Charlie distracts the media from seeing him. Whip drives to his late father's farm and dumps out all his alcohol, hoping to avoid the media. When he meets Charlie and attorney Hugh Lang (Cheadle), they explain that the NTSB performed a hospital toxicology screen while he was unconscious, showing that Whip was intoxicated. The test had the potential to send him to prison on alcohol, drug and manslaughter charges. Hugh promises to get the toxicology report voided on technical grounds, but Whip angrily leaves and seeks Nicole. He finds her bailing on her lease, offers to pay for it, and lets her stay at the farm.
The two begin a romantic relationship, but Nicole is trying to stay sober while Whip keeps drinking, and she soon leaves. She writes Whip a note that tells him he needs help, and that she can't live with him or his alcoholism. The media soon discovers his farmhouse, so he drives (intoxicated) to visit his ex-wife and teenage son. They call the police after Whip makes a drunken scene at the house and he finally leaves, only to discover the media waiting outside. He begs to stay with Charlie, vowing not to drink before the upcoming NTSB hearing. Before long, Whip meets Evans at the hospital, but discovers Evans will never walk again, and is lucky to be alive. He and his wife thank Whip.
The night before the hearing, Charlie and Hugh check Whip into a guarded hotel room to ensure he does not get intoxicated. His mini-bar has only nonalcoholic beverages, but he notices an open door to the adjoining room and discovers a mini-bar full of alcohol. Charlie and Hugh find him the next morning, passed out drunk. They call Harling, who brings him cocaine to perk him up for the hearing. Whip informs Harling that he can never see him again.
At the hearing, Ellen Block (Leo), the lead NTSB investigator, explains that a damaged elevator assembly jackscrew was the primary cause of the crash. She commends Whip on his valor and skill, but just as it appears he will escape blame, she reveals that they found two empty vodka bottles in the trash on the plane. Whip knows these were his, and Block points out that only the flight crew had access to the alcohol. Since only Katerina's toxicology screen showed alcohol, Block asks Whip whether he thinks she may have been drinking on the job. Refusing to taint her good name, Whip admits not only that he was flying intoxicated but also that he is intoxicated at the hearing.
Thirteen months later, an imprisoned Whip, serving a minimum five-year sentence, tells a support group of fellow inmates that he is glad to be sober and does not regret doing the right thing, because he finally feels "free." He also tells them that he lost his piloting license, but he didn't lose his way. He has pictures of Nicole and other family and friends on the wall of his cell, along with greeting cards congratulating him on being sober for a year. He is working to rebuild his relationship with his son, who visits his father for an interview for a college application essay on "the most fascinating person I've never met."
Cast
- Denzel Washington as Whip Whitaker
- Kelly Reilly as Nicole Maggen
- Don Cheadle as Hugh Lang
- Bruce Greenwood as Charlie Anderson
- John Goodman as Harling Mays
- Melissa Leo as Ellen Block
- Tamara Tunie as Margaret Thomason
- Nadine Velazquez as Katerina Márquez
- Brian Geraghty as Ken Evans
- Peter Gerety as Avington Carr
- Garcelle Beauvais as Deana Coleman
- Justin Martin as Will Whitaker
- James Badge Dale as Gaunt Young Man
- Piers Morgan (Cameo)
Crew
- Robert Zemeckis – Director, Producer
- John Gatins – Writer
- Walter F. Parkes – Producer
- Laurie MacDonald – Producer
- Steve Starkey – Producer
- Jack Rapke – Producer
- Don Burgess – Cinematographer
- Nelson Coates – Production Designer
- Jeremiah O'Driscoll – Film Editor
- Cherylanne Martin – Executive Producer
- Louis Frogley – Costume Designer
- Alan Silvestri – Film Composer
- Victoria Burrows – Casting Director
- Scot Boland – Casting Director
Production
Robert Zemeckis entered negotiations to direct in April 2011,[4] and by early June had accepted, with Denzel Washington about to finalize his own deal.[5] It marked the first time Zemeckis and Washington worked together on a motion picture.
By mid-September 2011, Kelly Reilly was in negotiations to play the female lead,[6] with Don Cheadle,[7] Bruce Greenwood,[7] and John Goodman[8] joining later in the month, and Melissa Leo and James Badge Dale in final negotiations.[9] Screenwriter John Gatins said in early October 2011 that production would begin mid-month.[10] Flight was largely filmed on location near Atlanta, Georgia, over 45 days in November 2011.[11] The film's relatively small budget of $31 million, which Zemeckis later calculated was his smallest budget in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1980, was due to tax rebates from Georgia and from Zemeckis and Washington having waived their customary fees.[11]
Gatins explained in a 2012 interview with the Los Angeles Times that the dramatic fictional crash depicted in Flight was "loosely inspired" by the 2000 crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261,[11] which was caused by a broken jackscrew and in which the pilots briefly attempted to recover from catastrophic loss of control by flying the aircraft upside down. That crash had no survivors. The airplane in "Flight", a two-engine T-tail jet airliner, appears to be from the same model family as Alaska Airlines 261, a variant of the MD-80.
Reception
Flight has received mostly positive reviews. The film has an approval rating of 77% based on a sample of 168 critics on Rotten Tomatoes.[12] The site's consensus states "Robert Zemeckis makes a triumphant return to live-action cinema with Flight, a thoughtful and provocative character study propelled by a compelling performance from Denzel Washington." Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 76% based on reviews from 36 critics.[13]
The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy wrote that the film "provides Denzel Washington with one of his meatiest, most complex roles, and he flies with it."[1] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars (out of four) writing, "Flight segues into a brave and tortured performance by Denzel Washington—one of his very best. Not often does a movie character make such a harrowing personal journey that keeps us in deep sympathy all of the way." He also noted the plane's upside-down flight scene was "one of the most terrifying flight scenes I've ever witnessed".[14] Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Denzel Washington didn't get an Oscar nod for nothing: His performance as an alcoholic airline pilot ensnared by his own heroics is crash-and-burn epic."[15]
The film received some criticism from airline pilots who questioned the film's realism, particularly the premise of a pilot being able to continue flying with a significant substance-abuse problem.[16] The Air Line Pilots' Association in an official press release dismissed the film as an inaccurate portrayal of an air crew and stated that "we all enjoy being entertained, but a thrilling tale should not be mistaken for the true story of extraordinary safety and professionalism among airline pilots."[17] An airline pilot also commented that " a real-life Whitaker wouldn’t survive two minutes at an airline, and all commercial pilots—including, if not especially, those who’ve dealt with drug or alcohol addiction—should feel slandered by his ugly caricature."[18] The pilot also criticised the portrayal of the relationship between copilot and captain, the decision of Whitaker to increase speed dangerously in a storm and the ultimate dive and crash landing of Whitaker's aircraft.[19]
Awards and nominations
Miscellaneous
At The Oscars, host Seth MacFarlane re-created Flight using sock-puppets as a parody. In his version, Whip drinks a whole bottle of whiskey before takeoff. In air, he snorts coke. While the plane dives, Whip (intoxicatedly) rolls the plane. In the hospital, Harling and Whip do drugs together.
References
- ^ a b McCarthy, Todd (October 15, 2012). "Flight: New York Film Festival Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
- ^ Horn, John (October 20, 2012). "How the movie 'Flight' got off the ground". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
- ^ Flight at Box Office Mojo
- ^ Kit, Borys (April 20, 2011). "Robert Zemeckis in Talks for Live-Action 'Flight' With Denzel Washington Circling". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
- ^ Zeitchik, Steven (June 3, 2011). "Robert Zemeckis finally looks to take 'Flight'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
- ^ White, James (September 13, 2011). "Kelly Reilly Takes Flight". Deadline.com. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
- ^ a b Morris, Clint (September 22, 2011). "Exclusive : Cheadle, Greenwood join Zemeckis's Flight". Moviehole.com. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
- ^ Fleming, Mike (September 28, 2011). "John Goodman Boards Robert Zemeckis' Flight With Denzel Washington". Deadline.com. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
- ^ Kit, Borys (September 30, 2011). "Melissa Leo, James Badge Dale Booking 'Flight' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
- ^ Warner, Kara (October 5, 2011). "Denzel Washington's "Flight" Is 12 Years In The Making". MTV. Retrieved November 7, 2011.
- ^ a b c Horn, John (21 October 2012). "How the movie 'Flight' became airborne". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- ^ Flight at Rotten Tomatoes Flixster
- ^ "Flight". Metacritic. CBS.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "Roger Ebert Flight review". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ^ Entertainment Weekly Staff (February 8, 2013). "The Must List". Entertainment Weekly. New York: Time Inc.: 8.
- ^ Smith, Patrick (November 18, 2012). "Real Pilots Laugh at 'Flight'". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on November 26, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ http://www.alpa.org/portals/alpa/pressroom/pressreleases/2012/10-31-12_12.43.htm
- ^ http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/18/real-pilots-laugh-at-flight.html
- ^ http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/18/real-pilots-laugh-at-flight.html
External links
- Official website
- Flight at IMDb
- ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Flight at AllMovie
- Flight at Rotten Tomatoes
- Flight at Metacritic
- Flight at Box Office Mojo
- 2012 films
- 2010s drama films
- American drama films
- American aviation films
- Interracial romance films
- Films about alcoholism
- Films about drugs
- Films set on an airplane
- Films set in Florida
- Films set in Atlanta, Georgia
- Films directed by Robert Zemeckis
- ImageMovers films
- Paramount Pictures films
- English-language films
- Films about survivors of aviation accidents or incidents
- Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state)