Flight
Flight
#1Flight
Posted: 11/7/12 at 6:30pm
The more I think about this movie the more I kind of hated it. Denzel gives a very technically proficient performance, but I didn't give two sh!ts about his character. I kept thinking maybe if he suddenly and tragically died I might find some redemption in this tale, but no, he lived and lived for t w o h o u r s and t w e n t y m i n u t e s.
The dialogue was nothing special and the last 15 minutes or so turned into a Lifetime movie. Denzel's love interest was bland and I didn't care about her story either. They gave her way too much screentime without really developing her, and ignored more interesting characters like Don Cheadle and John Goodman.
So far this is biggest disappointment that the critics went nuts for.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#2Flight
Posted: 11/7/12 at 7:37pm
My biggest problem with the movie was the love interest. I couldn't care less about her and was annoyed at the way her story was filmed. On top of that, she was just kind of dropped before the end of the movie.
I thought Washington was good, but I agree, the end was very TV movie feel good garbage.
My favorite part was John Goodman - small role, but he was excellent in it (kind of reminded me of Big Lebowski).
Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.
#3Flight
Posted: 11/7/12 at 10:37pm
jasonf- I agree with you about the way the love interest was filmed. She was given equal screen time cutting her story with Denzel's through the crash. Scenes like her meeting up with her porn star friend to get drugs were so unnecessary.
Goodman was the best part, but he was so funny/outlandish that he felt like he was in a different movie.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#4Flight
Posted: 11/8/12 at 8:48am
*obligatory possible spoilers warning*
The film is a mess. It's poorly written, none of the supporting characters are particularly well-developed, it's SO LONG that by the time John Goodman makes his second appearance--nearly two hours after his first--I'd almost forgotten his character existed, the love story makes no sense from the beginning (why was he interested in her in the first place? just because they'd met by chance and are both broken people?), etc. There are so many ways in which the film fails that the overwhelming positive response makes no sense to me.
That said, I would rank Washington's performance as one of the top three in his career--and this comes from someone who is not a fan at all. Whizzer, I disagree with your characterization of his performance as simply "technically proficient". That is how I usually find Washington's acting to be--mannered, proficient star turns, always playing to the audience with a wink and a smile. This is one of the few times I've seen him really burrow deep into a character, and it really surprised me. Whatever the film's failings--which are many--I was blown away by Denzel.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#5Flight
Posted: 11/11/12 at 7:10pm
Washington's performance saved the film from becoming a forgotten TV movie. John Goodman stole the movie in the 4 minutes he was on screen.
It was an hour too long. You didnt need the plane crash scene in there at all. Nor the events preceding it. You could have started the movie from where Denzel Washington regained consciousness in the hospital.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
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