Flight Risk

Winston, a mob accountant, is taken into custody, and offered protection on the condition that he testifies against one of his criminal associates. Madelyn Harris, a US Marshal, accompanies Winston on a small plane so that he can be flown out of a rural area to the nearest air strip. This plane is flown by a likeable enough Daryl Booth, a twang-speaking easygoing guy who seems more or less like an innocent bystander. However, it is soon shown that perhaps not everyone on this plane (or even off of it) is who they seem to be.

That was possibly the easiest plot summary I’ve ever had to do. Now, on to the quality of the film…

There are two things about “Flight Risk” that I can’t really pick apart: the performances, and the directing. For most of the movie there are only three actors (as well as some voice acting, and a few other actors near the beginning and the end). They all do a great job on screen. To no one’s surprise, Mark Wahlbergis a scene stealer, chewing the scenery for the majority of the runtime. I thought he played a pretty good villain in this role (apparently it’s the first villain he’s played in 30 years), and fans expecting his typical over-the-top “Walberg-isms” will not be disappointed.

Michelle Dockery is also really great as the cynical, untrusting deputy marshall transporting the criminal. One can feel the confidence and worry embodied in her character perfectly throughout the film. And, to be honest, I didn’t even know she was British until I did some research on the cast later that night.

Topher Grace’s nervous, fidgety performance at times made me wonder if he was overdoing it, but the more I think about it, his performance works quite well for the timid, accountant character he’s playing.

Mel Gibson is one of my favorite directors and actors, and was the main draw to this movie for me. This is also the first film he’s directed since “Hacksaw Ridge” (2016). As I expected, the directing here is quite good. Of course, given how small scale this movie really is, it’s not like trying to direct “Braveheart,” with its much larger scale and budget. Nevertheless, I think a lot of people underappreciate just how much work goes into film directing, even one as small and contained as this.

There are a lot of shots that are not in the plane, and I think most of them work really well. For most, I was genuinely unsure if the shot was real or faked, which, in this CGI age is a welcome experience.

Let’s talk about the script and pacing. This is where we run in to a lot of problems. Honestly, I think it could have been a lot better. The first 30 minutes or so are quite good, and I was genuinely invested. Of course, this is the kind of premise is immediately hooking and can be described in 5 seconds. There are a handful of sequences and moments throughout that build up the tension quite well. However, eventually I found the storyline to be a lot more one dimensional than I expected.

A lot of people were worried (myself included) that this film’s trailer gives too much away. Actually, it’s worse than that. Not only does the trailer reveal quite a bit, there are one or two things alluded to in the trailer that I was actually sort of excited about seeing that never ended up making it into the final film. To be fair, though, this is a movie that’s really hard to make a trailer for. A good trailer finds a balance between building viewer expectations while not revealing too much content, something much easier done in larger scale films.

The runtime of “Flight Risk” is only 91 minutes with credits (and, apparently, it was even shorter until they realized they needed to shoot one more scene for clarity). I think the runtime is pretty much perfect.

However, whether everything in the film needed to be in it is another question entirely. I think my single biggest issue is that it tries too hard to stay afloat with subplots. There is an entire alternate storyline that basically takes place in Madelyn’s various phone conversations and interactions. Without spoiling what these conversations are about, I’ll just say that it ends up feeling a little desperate after a while. It’s like they knew that they would need to add some more ingredients to the pot because they thought that no one would want to see a movie that’s limited to three people in a plane.

Also, the dialog at times feels very scripted, repetitive, and very on the nose. There is not a single subtle moment, I believe to its fault. For that reason, I was never really able to settle into these characters.

My biggest qualm with being able to recommend this film, however, has yet to be discussed…

Content of concern

The premise of this movie makes it virtually impossible to give content advisory information that does not spoil the movie. So, while I will do my best to be vague here, you will want to skip over this section if you do not want to know some of the crucial plot points.

The thumbnail, spoiler-free summary is that “Flight Risk” is much worse than I thought it would be in almost every content category. This was a real disappointment because none of it was necessary.

VIOLENCE: Heavy. Most of the movie has a tense overtone to it with a few sequences of extended violence. There are fights throughout that include hitting, stabbing, choking, shocking, and biting. A character breaks his finger and rips the skin on his hand to escape from a handcuff. A plane crashes on a runway with debris falling from it. One of the characters rolls out, and is essentially beheaded by an oncoming car. A character almost goes into shock due to blood loss. There is an effective jump scare when something hits the window of the plane.

There are also a lot of things that are told rather than shown that nevertheless conjure up some nasty mental images. Someone is said to have burned alive. A person is said to have been killed when a molotov cocktail was thrown into a bathroom when she was taking a shower. Someone threatens to tear someone else into “tiny pieces.” Someone is found with no fingers or teeth.

LANGUAGE: Very Heavy. There are 44 uses of the F-word and its various derivatives. “Sh*t” is used 24 times, including “h*ly sh*t” (1), “d*mn” (5), plus twice paired with “God,” and “d*mn it” (2), “hot d*mn” (1). “H*ll” is used 4 times. There are a number of scatological terms thrown around [“p*ss” (3), “cr*p” (2)], a couple anatomical references [“a**” (1), “living on my nipple” (1), as well as a handful of random insults and name-calling [“b*tch” (1), “son of a b*tch” (1), “shut up” (3), “screwed” (2), “heck”.

Most offensive, however, are the numerous vain references to deity [“oh my G*d” (8), “thank G*d” (3), “swear to G*d” (2), “God” (1), “oh G*d” (1). There are even two irreverent uses of our Lord’s names [“Chr*st” (1), “J*sus” (1)], something that sadly seems to have become a modern movie staple.

SEX: Moderate. All of it is in the form of dialog. One character speaks of a “gal” he used to fiddle with. He speaks of “having fun” a few times. A character references foreplay, roleplay (“do you want to be the husband or wife?”), “biting the hotdog,” and asks someone to give him a “hardon.” One handcuffed character says he needs to be let out of handcuffs to go to the bathroom, and if they don’t let him out they’ll “have to do the paperwork.” One character says, “It’s tough with all the sexual tension.” Someone comments, “If we were cousins, we’d already be married.”

More lightly, two people have a mildly flirtatious conversation over the phone, where at one point he offers to take her out to dinner.

DRUGS/ALCOHOL: A man says he likes to “drink a lot.” A woman offers morphine to a man.

Moral Elements

I honestly had to rack my brain to find anything to put in this category besides the obvious bad stuff. There is nothing redemptive about the two male leads in the movie, the possible exception being that Winston seems to be concerned about his family. Both of them have very selfish motivations that involve changing sides if it means it puts them on top, regardless of what is morally right. Daryl in particular is very foul-mouthed, and some of the things he says are truly disgusting. And the crazy part is, according to Mel Gibson, most of his dialog was improvised, and they actually had to cut out a lot of what he said because of how “sick” it was.

Madelyn is portrayed doing her job in a responsible and brave way. In one scene she talks about regrets that she has had in her career. I was on her side for most of the movie, but she does something near the end that made me raise an eyebrow at her character’s motivations.

Conclusion

I do not recommend “Flight Risk” at all. In fact, I’ll go further by recommending that you NOT see it. The performances are great, the directing is tight, and there are some moments of genuine suspense that I enjoyed, but that’s really all that this film has to offer. The movie as a whole is very derivative, and feels like it rips off other movies with similar concepts that are simply better than this one. The story is pretty flat and predictable, and the sleight of hand it uses to draw you away from the actual plot is unforgiving.

Besides this, the bad content give plenty of reason for Christians to steer away from this film. I was honestly shocked at how much offensive content there was in foul language, violent sequences, disturbing imagery that is hinted at, and sexual references. It’s important for us as Christians to remember what we are feeding ourselves spiritually, and make wise decisions accordingly.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” —Matthew 6:22-23

“I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.” —Psalm 101:3

• Vulgar/Crude language: Very Heavy
• Violence: Heavy
• Profane language: Moderately Heavy
• Sex: Moderate
• Drugs/Alcohol: Minor
• Nudity: None
• Occult: None
• Wokeism: None