Sunday, December 2, 2012

Flight

It has been 12 years, but Robert Zemeckis is briefly back to making live-action movies (Remember Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Castaway, etc?).  Flight stars the always wonderful Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, and one of the best supporting actors, John Goodman.  

Whip Whitaker (Washington) is a extraordinarily talented pilot, which comes in handy when the plane hits turbulence or possibly has a equipment malfunction and he has to make a crash landing.  Luckily, he is able to save the lives of just about everybody on the plane.  Unluckily for him, he is addicted to drugs and alcohol and people begin to start investigating the possible causes of the crash. Whip must deal with his own addictions, while trying to relieve himself of possible blame for the ordeal.  Goodman plays Whip's best friend and the source of much of his cocaine and other drugs.

Like with such actors/actresses as Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, and Sally Field, I would pretty much watch Denzel Washington in anything.  He is an incredibly talented lead actor and was able to portray someone who is completely controlled by their addictions and dealing with his ex-wife and poor relationship with his son.  He makes it all seem pretty effortless...which I suppose is what is entailed in being a great actor.  Also, John Goodman is awesome in anything he does.  I have loved seeing him in small roles in several movies this year.  He does not disappoint in his couple scenes in Flight.  He is absolutely hilarious in his couple scenes, including visiting Whip in the hospital, complete with cigarettes and dirty magazines.  

Just a heads up, the beginning of the film is a little scandalous.  If you wish to watch the movie without all of the skin, then simply skip the first five minutes.  I promise you will not miss any key plot points and you may feel better about yourselves for making that judgement call.  

I enjoyed this movie.  It has great actors, an exciting plane crash scene, gave some nice information about addictions, and hopefully was such an enjoyable experience for Robert Zemeckis, that he will want to make many more live action movies.

3 out of 4 stars...Denzel Washington and John Goodman...if you don't like them, then stay home and don't go to the Redbox when it comes to DVD

-Joseph Sbrilli