With a January release date and a cancelled director, Flight Risk is an easy target for critics. I don’t know why Lionsgate decided to open it during the Bermuda Triangle of theatergoing. And it’s hard to defend Mel Gibson’s off-screen behavior. But as a B-movie, Flight Risk is better than it has to be. Smart, funny at times, and twisty enough, it will entertain you if you let it.
A prologue finds former mob accountant Winston (Topher Grace) hiding out in a remote Alaskan hotel. He’s arrested by U.S. Deputy Marshall Madolyn Harris (Michelle Dockery), who’s tasked with returning him to Anchorage, where he will be transported to New York to be a key witness in a mobster’s trial.
Madolyn charters a private plane (according to the press notes, a Cessna Grand Caravan) for the two-hour flight to Anchorage. Daryl Booth (Mark Wahlberg), a friendly, folksy pilot, assures them that the trip is an easy one, despite the turbulence and the occasional bird strike.
Troubling inconsistencies pop up. Daryl claims the GPS navigation system is inoperative, and says that the mountains are cutting off radio communication. Handcuffed and manacled in the back seat, Winston notices that the official pilot ID shows a different person.
Blood on Daryl’s sleeve raises Madolyn’s suspicions as well, but before she can do anything Daryl attacks. Madolyn manages to subdue Daryl and handcuff him to the fuselage, but now she has to figure out a way to complete the flight to Anchorage.
Her satellite phone connects Madolyn to a superior, who adds on Hassan, a pilot who will talk her through the rest of the trip. Complications continue: a near brush with a mountaintop, escapes and recaptures, escalating violence, and the possibility that Madolyn is being played by her office.
Taking place mostly within the plane’s cramped interior, Flight Risk is an exercise in shot-listing. How to vary closeups, two-shots, and three-shots in one location brings into play tension, pacing, editing, point-of-view, and other filmmaking concepts that are handled well for the most part.
As a director, Gibson is more than competent, if a little aggressive, with visuals. Shooting in an LED volume, he and his team carefully set out the plane’s geography, pointing out elements that will later come into play, using tight shots to show how little room there is for the characters to operate in, and adding some well-chosen effects exteriors.
Acting is another matter. Topher Grace is a veteran of snarky retorts and comic cowardice, and handles his role with aplomb. Dockery looks game but a little unsure of her action chops.
Wahlberg basically does Mel Gibson in his performance, a choice that negates a lot of the film’s suspense. Sporting a bald wig and spitting out his lines with a fake redneck accent, he’s the weak link in a film that can’t afford any.
Your attitude towards Gibson, and to a lesser extent, Wahlberg, will determine how much you like or hate Flight Risk. Viewed as objectively as possible, it’s an okay escapist thriller with an outstanding action scene at its climax.
Credits: Directed by Mel Gibson. Written by Jared Rosenberg. Produced by John Davis, John Fox, Bruce Davey, Mel Gibson. Director of photography: Johnny Derango. Production designer: David Meyer. Edited by Steven Rosenblum, ACE. Costume designer: Kristen Kopp. Music by Antonio Pinto. Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, Topher Grace.
In theaters 24 January. Photos courtesy of Lionsgate.
