David R. Walker

Flight Risk

Director: Mel Gibson

Cast: Michelle Dockery, Topher Grace, Mark Wahlberg, Maaz Ali, Paul Ben-Victor

Running Time: 1 hour 31 minutes

Film Rating: 6 out of 10

Actor turned director Mel Gibson won an Oscar for Best Director for Braveheart back in 1995 which was 30 years ago. Gibson’s time in the director chair has hit some highs including Hacksaw Ridge and some lows now with his new film Flight Risk.

Flight Risk is not a terrible film but it’s not brilliant. Jared Rosenberg’s script about three people being on a small plane together across snowbound Alaska is terrifying enough, claustrophobic at times and exhilarating. The three characters in question are British actress Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey, The Gentleman) as the hard as nails FBI agent Madolyn, Topher Grace (Traffic, Spiderman 3, BlacKkKlansman) as the mischievous and dodgy accountant Winston who is going to New York to testify against the mob and lastly the real villain of the show, the demented Daryl, a hired killer who starts off as the pilot of the small plane.

Similar in concept to the Steven Knight scripted 2013 film, Locke starring Tom Hardy, Olivia Colman and Ruth Wilson, all the action of Flight Risk takes place on the plane with the dramatic Alaskan mountains as landscape. Dockery’s character Madolyn has to reassure Winston that everything is going to be alright and that they will land in Anchorage safely. Of course that’s if the crazed Daryl expertly played with the right shade of psychopath by Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg (The Departed, The Fighter) doesn’t kill them first.

As in Locke in which the whole film just shows Tom Hardy’s character driving a car and all the threatening action happens via cell phone with the rest of the characters off screen, Flight Risk alludes to other characters including a friendly pilot Hassan played by Maaz Ali and Madolyn’s boss Coleridge played by Paul Ben-Victor, while the real action happens in a small plane in which Winston and Madolyn have to survive until they can land safely in Anchorage. The story is about the three characters on the plane and nothing else.

Flight Risk as a film needs a counterpoint to the claustrophobic action occurring on the plane and unfortunately Jared Rosenberg’s script is not as crisp or engaging as screenwriter Steven Knight.

Flight Risk starts off well but as the bumpy journey progresses the middle is boring and the ending is engaging but not clever. This flight lacks some real entertainment. Maybe if the plane was flying across a crowded city this film would be more interesting.

Exciting but not brilliant, Flight Risk gets a film rating of 6 out of 10 and is recommended viewing if you need to kill 90 minutes and love films with claustrophobic settings. From director Mel Gibson I did expect a far more superior thriller which this film isn’t.

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