Flight

I'm just not sure how I feel about Flight.

My biggest source of conflict is Denzel Washington. I like Denzel Washington, but I don't like his character Whip. Within the first 5 minutes you learn you're not going to like Whip, and this role is unlike your typical Denzel role.

Don't get me wrong: Denzel is his usually reliable greatness in this movie. But for the life of me, I can't figure out why he is in this movie. There's a point in the film where he's yelling at someone about why he drinks alcohol and I thought to myself, "what about this screenplay jumped out at him and made him think he had to be a part of this film?"Isn't he better than this movie?

The other odd phenomena that stuck out to me is that he doesn't shine the brightest in this movie. What I mean is that whenever I see a movie with Denzel in it, his performance almost always is the strongest, the one that stands out most. In this movie, John Goodman as his drug dealing best friend and James Badge Dale as a cancer patient outshine Denzel; when I think about Flight 5 years from now, I'll think of them first before Denzel. I think any Denzel movie where he isn't the best performance is problematic at best.

I also struggled with some of the plot points. Towards the end, Whip's final alcohol bender hinges on a very flimsy, next-to-impossible chance that made me cringe. I also really disliked the Hollywood-ish ending this movie got. It wraps up too nicely and too upbeat for all the depression that preceded it. The movie breaks no new ground and does nothing terribly interesting, and when Denzel isn't Denzel, it creates an underwhelming experience.

I won't hold this movie against Denzel or even Robert Zemeckis; both have done a lot better, but have shown a history of greatness that cannot be overlooked when I see their name on their next film. But hopefully I get no emotional turbulence the next time around.