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Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk Fails to Capture Magic of Better Films

Michelle Dockery as Madolyn and Mark Wahlberg as Daryl in Flight Risk. Courtesy of Lionsgate

On January 24th, actor-director Mel Gibson, just recently named one of three “special ambassadors” to Hollywood by President Donald Trump, went on Fox News to talk about Trump’s visit to California following the devastating wildfires, which cost Gibson his home. During the interview, Gibson said “daddy arrived and he’s taking his belt off,” in regards to Trump. 

The creepy quote and interview, which was a part of Gibson’s press tour for his latest film, Flight Risk, could describe his return to the director’s chair. Gibson, with a decorated career as an actor and multiple Oscar-nominated films as a director, brazenly comes back with a tight 90-minute plane thriller about  U.S. Marshall Madolyn (Michelle Dockery) keeping a witness (Topher Grace) alive against a psychotic killer pilot (Mark Wahlberg). 

Flight Risk feels like Gibson’s attempt to make a film that “they just don’t make these days.” But the film, a far weaker and grimier version of 1988’s “Midnight Run,” struggles to pack thrills or excitement with a story that leads Wahlberg’s character to sit in the back of the plane for the majority of the runtime. The result feels like paint drying, except with an uncomfortable amount of rape jokes for Wahlberg’s character to say to Grace’s character, Winston.

Wahlberg, who has appeared with Gibson onscreen in Daddy’s Home 2 and Father Stu, does nothing to tone down his performance as a Southern-speaking, ‘wisecracking’ hitman pilot. It’s a credit to him that he’s trying to make his performance as ecstatically crazy as possible. Only, a consistent number of rape jokes starts to feel less like an example of how evil Wahlberg’s character is and more of some weird preference for writing characters. 

From the jump, the Jared Rosenberg script is chock full of cliches and components from better action thrillers — an agent with a checkered past, a dorky accountant/informant, the Italian mob. Fortunately, the film wastes no time in cramming the protagonist, antagonist and plot-driving character into the run-down single-engine aeroplane. 

Pacing, in terms of getting the plot from point A to point B, is not the issue. But once the characters, particularly Wahlberg’s, are in the plane, there are some clear ‘down’ moments. Once Madolyn realizes her pilot’s criminal intentions and incapacitates him, the main drama comes down to her figuring out how to fly a plane. All the while, the vicious killer sits in the back, slowly but surely breaking free. 

A still of Michelle Dockery as Madolyn in "Flight Risk."
Michelle Dockery as Madolyn in “Flight Risk.” Courtesy of Lionsgate.

The suspense drips ever so slowly. In theory, this offers at least something mildly different from standard action thriller fare, where something has to happen nearly every minute. The only problem with this idea is that the moments of silent tension share the screen with cliches. While the antagonist literally and figuratively sits in the back, Madolyn and Winston share bits and pieces of their contrived backstories. 

That’s not even mentioning the communication between Madolyn, her Marshal leader and the pilot who guides her to safety. In Madolyn’s discussion with the former, she starts to uncover the conspiracy inside the U.S. Marshals Service. In the other conversation, she receives advances from the pilot Hasan (Maaz Ali), who keeps asking her out on a date on the comms system. The flirtatious nature, while she tries to fly a plane, feels so out of left field that you completely forget the element of suspense that’s in the back of the plane.

These conversations in an action thriller truly could be honest attempts by Rosenberg and Gibson to spice things up in the genre. Flight Risk can feel at times like an antithetical action movie — an action movie with no action. But this comes down to poor writing. This extends to the half-hearted friendship that the script tries to shoehorn in for the “badass” Madolyn and the “nerdy” Winston. 

Trying to fly a plane can obviously be stressful, especially for an untrained pilot in Madolyn. But when there’s a much more interesting and exciting element in the movie that’s only sparingly used, frustrations can mount. Indeed, the only reason suspense continues is because a knife slowly but surely slides into the backseat where Wahlberg’s character is. 

Nitpicking does not serve as a truly effective form of criticism, but Flight Risk’s whole premise goes up in flames if either Madolyn or Winston just remembers there is a knife on the plane. Again, there’s plenty to think about when an untrained pilot is suddenly thrown into flying a plane when the only other option is death. But the movie never conveys a true sense of panic or overall stakes. 

You never feel Madolyn’s inexperience or the dangers of being in a single-engine plane. All you can feel is that Flight Risk is a movie you’ve seen time and time again. There are no personal touches Gibson could’ve brought to this script that would change its fundamentally flawed nature. 

And with how Gibson’s comments and prior movies have created controversy, would you even want him to spruce up this film?

Written by Henry O'Brien

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