Flight Risk is an action thriller that might have some B-movie charms for an undemanding audience, but it’s too bland and generic to justify its existence. It tries to have some semblance of competency, but it runs out of fuel, and the landing is not exactly smooth.
It stars Mark Wahlberg as Daryl Booth, a pilot with a Texas accent flying a plane from Alaska to New York. His passengers include a nerdy accountant named Winston (Topher Grace) and a U.S. Marshal (Michelle Dockery).
Winston is an informant who plans to testify in court against a mob boss. Those plans get intercepted when Daryl is revealed as a hitman onboard assigned to eliminate Winston. However, the accountant and the marshal use their wits to incapacitate Daryl and have to take over the plane without any experience.
Wahlberg brings some level of camp to his performance but the result is one-note and the only defining characteristic is his ridiculously huge bald spot that looks totally unconvincing and even unintentionally funny. Instead of bringing a menacing presence, his character is a run-of-the-mill bad guy who makes lewd, crass comments at the other two while being handcuffed for most of the movie.
Flight Risk can’t help but be lured into temptation with some scenes, such as when the marshal is trying to call for help on the headset, the other line breaks up just as she needs to know what to do to make sure the plane doesn’t crash. There are also a couple of subplots that feel tedious or don’t have any oomph to them, such as when a flirtatious ground pilot tries to make a deal to take the marshal out on a date in exchange for landing the plane. It just feels distracting and belongs in a different movie.
The movie is advertised as being “from the award-winning director of Braveheart, Apocalypto and Hacksaw Ridge.” Anybody who has seen the trailer for it can automatically know it’s Mel Gibson, but I guess his name is still a source of taboo.
To his credit, Gibson still has a confident hand with the material, but even his artistic merits can’t save a movie riddled with a plot that is par for the course and monotonous throughout. Plus, some of the CGI used looks done on the cheap, with some of the sequences in the air and a moose at the beginning.
Flight Risk has a good cast and director who are trying to do their best, but the story only produces turbulence.
Grade: C
(Rated R for violence and language.)
