Too much turbulence for this plane thriller.
The premise for “Flight Risk” is simple. An accountant for a gangster on trail is arrested by a Federal Marshall, and agrees to testify against the defendant. He tries hiding out in Alaska, because Florida is obviously not the best place to stay off the grid. And the two must take a shabby plane ride to New York where the trial will take place. But the pilot turns out to be an assassin out to eliminate the witness.
“Flight Risk” is the first film Mel Gibson has directed since “Hacksaw Ridge,” and it’s acknowledged that when it comes to filmmaking, he likes to wait every decade or so to make a movie. I think with this one he should have either waited a year more or come up with a better screenplay. It ends up becoming a missed opportunity with cliches and plot twists. Compared to his other directing jobs, this one chooses to be comical.
The small cast consists of Mark Wahlberg as the bad guy who takes the real pilot’s name Daryl and whose real identity shall be nameless, Michele Dockery as the Federal Marshall Madolyn, who is given another chance in the field following a fatal mistake, and Topher Grace as the witness Winston, who spends portions of the film making wisecracks and worrying about his and his mother’s safety.
Wahlberg refused to wear a bald cap for his character, so he shaved his head. And that’s why he looks believable as the villain. But coming on the heels of his last few action movies (“Infinite,” “Uncharted,” “The Family Plan,” and “The Union”), he needs to start choosing his action movies wisely. He’s done better in the past, and maybe he can do better again in the genre. But his character is basically treated like a fly who gets caught on the fly paper, escapes, and gets swatted. And whatever happens, the audience is laughing. Or at least few people were in the audience at the screening I attended.
A lot of the comedy the movie engages itself in has to feature Grace peeing himself and Wahlberg claiming to crap himself. I’m still nauseated by how we had to see the gross-out humor in “The Front Room,” and I still have no idea what the filmmakers were thinking. But I’m so glad, we don’t have to see or smell anything nasty.
Dockery and Grace are also fine actors, but their characters have to be in the tradition of a law enforcer and a man in custody. Wisecracks, shut ups, and sympathy that soon develops. In fact, the sympathy has better meaning than the alleged comedy presented here. Or maybe it’s just me being relieved the annoying formula doesn’t take the entire flight.
The formula for the movie is simple. The good guys fight the bad guy, they tie him up, they try to get help, he manages to break free and try to kill them, but he gets overpowered by them, and the cycle continues. If you ask me, a movie about a killer posing as a pilot should have been more promising. Instead, “Flight Risk” is too scared to take risks. In fact, I like to think a final assassination attempt is trying to be better than how that last minute traitor was added in “Air Force One.”
No wonder Lionsgate set the review embargo for this movie at 6PM, when the Thursday showings begin. It’s basically one of the few times we wish for a layover.