From the director of Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ, and Apocalypto comes a movie about three people on a plane in Flight Risk. Michelle Dockery plays disgraced U.S. Marshal Madolyn, who is given a final chance to prove she belongs in the field by apprehending the star witness of a mafia don trial in Winston (Topher Grace). Winston hid himself in the remote reaches of Alaska to no avail.
Madolyn is ordered to capture, protect, and transport Winston to Anchorage and then New York. The duo hops on a small prop plane with their pilot, Daryl (Mark Wahlberg). I’m pretty sure you got all this in the trailer. Daryl is revealed to be working for the mafia and has been ordered to fly the plane into the middle of nowhere to kill Madolyn and Winston.
In a quick fight using a Taser, Madolyn subdues Daryl, but they are lost, and neither she nor Winston knows how to fly a plane. Luckily, Madolyn has a satellite phone and is able to contact her boss in New York. Of course, there’s a mole in the department who wants them dead, and before they can figure it out, Daryl escapes his bindings.
Before you accuse me of spoiling the movie, did you really not see any of this coming? I think you will be surprised that Mel Gibson directs this film. It’s almost like he’s sharpening his directing skills (since Heartbreak Ridge) in preparation for a much bigger film.
Michelle Dockery as Madolyn in Flight Risk. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate
“…a small plane in the vast Alaskan mountain range adds to the ‘now what do we do?’ moments.”
Flight Risk is a fun yet simple and straightforward thriller where you have a general sense of where things are headed at first, and then Gibson pulls in a surprise or two or three. The thriller is a three-hander and becomes a master class in status. As Daryl, Mark Wahlberg plays the ruthless tough guy who knows how to brawl and who shaved his head to elicit a single laugh near the end of the first act.
Michelle Dockery is Madolyn, a tough female agent with weapons training and hand-to-hand combat. Topher Grace is the numbers-nerd bound and handcuffed in most of the movie. He turns a potentially throwaway character into one who must hold his own. The fun from Jared Rosenberg’s script is that the plane is minimally equipped with a toolbox and a first-aid kit, so the fun comes in how all of these elements are used for Daryl or Madolyn to gain and regain control of the plane. The peril of being a small plane in the vast Alaskan mountain range adds to the “now what do we do?” moments.
Gibson moves the camera beautifully, framing each shot like a master and delivering all the cinematic tension necessary for a small airplane in the middle of nowhere. This storytelling style is more than by the book, and he elevates a fairly standard story.
Let’s be honest! No one’s winning any Oscars with this one, but it’s a fun thriller that will be streamed ad infinitum and played on cable television until the format finally disappears. Pop some popcorn and snuggle up for this heart-pounding adventure of Flight Risk.
"…almost like [Gibson’s] sharpening his directing skills...for a much bigger film."
