‘Flight Risk’ Review – Testosterone-Fueled, Crowd-Pleasing In-Flight Entertainment At Best

In 2016, actor-turned-director Mel Gibson gained award-winning praise with his Hacksaw Ridge. With accolades for John Gilbert’s stunning editing and the powerful score, the World War II feature earned $180,563,636 at the box office on an estimated budget of $40,000,000. Sadly, Gibson won’t be able to capitalize on that success in his latest movie, Flight Risk, as the film marks his downgrade from creating touching and impactful features to making B-grade cinema.

Like Hacksaw Ridge or Braveheart, Flight Risk can count on some big Hollywood names. However, the film is much more contained and small-scale than the credits would make you believe. It’s mainly just about an accountant, Winston (Topher Grace), who laundered money for both his mobster boss and his client and who’s now being transported by Air Marshal Madolyn (Michelle Dockery) to Anchorage and later to New York to testify against his former boss. They now need pilot Daryl (Mark Wahlberg) to fly them safely to their destination. Speaking of safely, first-time writer Jared Rosenberg plays it extremely safe with his script as he chooses the much-used format of an important flight going completely wrong mid-air.

Daryl might not be up to the task as he has never flown an Air Marshal and/or witness, and his shambolic plane even less so. No GPS, a broken radio and certainly no first-class seating in this small propeller plane. We still wonder why an Air Marshal thought it was a good idea to set foot in such a dated aircraft, but for Madolyn and her passenger, there was no other choice. But they will soon regret stepping on board as the flight will soon become the most dangerous cat-and-mouse game when their pilot is not who he claims to be.

After discovering his true identity and connection to the mob, Madolyn knocks Daryl out with much female power and takes over the plane. Flying a small aircraft over the snowy Alaska mountain tops isn’t a small feat, but she takes on the task with a lot of determination. Madolyn might not have the skills to fly the plane – luckily, there’s the laidback and flirty pilot Hasan (Monib Abhat) who helps her from a distance – but Dockery certainly knows how to deliver a bad-ass and fierce performance. One that’s miles away from the much more touching, uplifting and heartbreaking one she gave as Lady Mary in Downton Abbey. She’s why Flight Risk finds its way to the runway without much turbulence and problems.

There are two main problems Dockery and her Madolyn face: Booth’s multiple killing attempts and the sloppy computer-generated special effects. While Dockery successfully succeeds in overcoming that messy CGI – which is overly distracting during the climax – her character struggles much more with killing Booth. Despite being handcuffed for the majority of the flight – which sometimes results in bland and uninspiring moments – the psychotic killer can escape multiple times.

It’s then that the movie finds its speed. The more conversational scenes make room for intense popcorn action. Wahlberg (Father Stu) certainly sinks his teeth in those thrilling scenes, while Dockery takes on this much more meaty role with a lot of intensity. Throughout the 91-minute runtime, you wonder if and when Daryl will finally die. His grit and violence certainly keep him alive – just like Wahlberg’s vigorous, bold (or is it bald?) and brave performance – but for how long? For as long as Madolyn keeps trying.

While both Dockery and Wahlberg provide the muscles and power, Grace adds pitch-perfect comedic timing to the so-called suspense thriller. His That ’70s Show background certainly comes through in his brilliant performance as the socially awkward witness and geeky informant with silly and surprisingly funny one-liners. The comedic element – much more present in Flight Risk than you would expect – becomes even more prominent when Abhat (Love Hard) truly comes to the rescue as Hasan. Hasan’s flirty comments don’t only make Madolyn’s day but also bring the much-needed emotions and humanity to a testosterone-fuelled action movie.

The chemistry between Dockery and Abhat is highly tangible, as is the chemistry between the trio on board. Despite the goofy, underdeveloped and sometimes even slapstick script, the cast can deliver convincingly that there’s a lot on the line, both personally and professionally, during the turbulent flight.

For Gibson, this is probably the most light-hearted film in his directional repertoire – after Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ and Hacksaw Ridge – with the machoism, action and alpha-male violence levels going through the roof. These elements ensure that this feature can count on super-intense and riveting moments, especially when Dockery’s confident Madolyn goes head-to-head with Wahlberg’s overly macho Daryl. However, the slow start, the underdeveloped CGI and the awkward conversations make Flight Risk crowd-pleasing in-flight entertainment at best.

Flight Risk is out now in cinemas courtesy of Lionsgate