Film Review: Flight

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action film, action thriller, Charlie Anderson, Denzel Washington, Director Robert Zemeckist, Don Cheadle, drama, entertainment, film review flight, film reviews, Films, flight, John Goodman, Kelly Reilly, movies, reviews, Robert Zemeckist

When pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) miraculously lands a plummeting plane in an open field all eyes are on him and a hero is born. However the newly found spotlight has a dark side too, as it shines a light on Whitakers alcohol and drug abuse. While the authorities try to find out what caused the crash, Whitaker lobbies to ensure that no who learns the truth about his addiction.

Flight may have been advertised as an action thriller but in reality it is a character–driven drama about a man struggling to admit to himself that he has a problem. Sadly it just isn’t a very good drama, although Washington is capable in his role as the flawed Whitaker. The plot is not very strong and the writing is littered with clichés.

Thankfully there is an array of good actors, even in minor roles, to distract from the poor writing and sallow characters. Don Cheadle as Hugh Lang, Whitaker’s union lawyer and Bruce Greenwood as Charlie Anderson, Whitacker’s only friend, help liven up the sluggish flow of the story, even if it seems that Cheadle has been paid to say “kill the tox report” as many times as possible. A pleasant comic relief is John Goodman as Whitacker’s dealer Harling Mays, with his Rastafarian bag filled with drugs. Sadly Kelly Reilly as Whitacker’s love interest Nicole is underused and does not add to the story at all.

The strongest and most captivating sequence of Flight is undeniably the plane crash scenes. However as this happens about a third into the film the viewer is left deflated watching a functioning alcoholic fall off the wagon again and again till he finally can admit to himself what is wrong.  And even though it is honest in its depiction, no pity party for the leading man but no routing for him to sober up either, Flight is very mundane.

Director Robert Zemeckist may have had good intentions but to lure action fans into buying tickets with trailers filled with misdirection seems a little unfair. So disappointment is guaranteed, as Flight just isn’t very good and probably would have been better as the action thriller the viewer expected to see.

 

 

coming comet

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Apophis, Armageddon, Astronomers, Ben Affleck, Bruce Willis, miscellaneous, nature, random, science, thoughts

Ever seen “Armageddon“, that action si-fi staring Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck. In it a team of big burly oil rig workers go up into space to drill through and blow up an asteroid crashing down towards earth. Of course Bruce saves the world in good old Willis style, a firework of meteoric rock filling the sky. Interestingly enough this scenario may not be too far off reality.

The other night I was flicking the channels and stumbled upon a science show talking about the asteroid Apophis. The first time I heard about this hunk of rock and gas was in 2004. Astronomers had calculated that this near earth asteroid could possible enter our atmosphere in 2029 and collide with earth, but luckily that has proved to be incorrect.

My not so scientific mind couldn’t follow the calculations and measurements but what I did understand was that when Apophis passes by earth in 2029 it will be closer to us then our communications satellites.  With only 30,000 km between us and this spinning rock we will be able to see the asteroid on Friday the 13th of April (weird coincidence) as a moving bright light in our sky.  But it will be our lucky day as Apophis will pass us by and not destroy earth after all.

However there is a tiny chance, 1-10,000 (larger than the possibility of winning the lottery),  that Apophis will change it’s mind and decide to demolish life as we know it in 2036. So lets hope that by then NASA will have trained Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck to be the hero’s we have seen them be on the silver screen. And if not maybe someone else will relish the chance!

But either way we will be hearing a lot more about Apophis in the years to come, some hot air and a hunk of rock spinning around in space keeping our eyes fixed on the nights sky.