/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25845767/A250015_large_2.jpg "Audi’s lifted Q6 E-tron Off-Road concept is ready for winter driving")
PLOT: A pilot transports an Air Marshal accompanying a fugitive to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.
REVIEW: It feels like every time Mel Gibson releases a new movie, there’s talk of a “comeback.” Then he disappears for a decade, and all momentum is lost. It doesn’t help that he’s pretty controversial in his personal life, but I’ve always just focused on the film side of Gibson. His newest film, Flight Risk, sees him combining forces with Mark Wahlberg, who is finally taking a darker turn after decades of playing generic good guys. Does it result in a Markie Mark performance worth watching? Has Gibson actually returned to form, or is this more of a sign of more mediocrity to come? Well…
The story of Flight Risk follows Madolyn, a US Marshal, who accompanies Winston, a key witness against the mob, to a trial across the country. But on the flight over, they realize that the pilot is a trained hitman, with the sole intention of making sure Winston doesn’t get to his destination by any means necessary. Most will likely recognize Michelle Dockery from Downton Abbey, so seeing her take on a more action-oriented role is cool. I wasn’t fully convinced of her until the second half of the film, but she won me over by the end. I’ve always considered Topher Grace severely underrated, so it’s nice to see him get a big role here. He’s the comic relief, but he also energizes the movie a bit with some personality.
Ever since the first trailer for Flight Risk was released, I was intrigued for one reason and one reason only: Mark Wahlberg as a bad guy. One of my main criticisms of the actor is that he always plays the same good guy character in every movie (even when it’s supposed to be based on a real person). So to finally see Wahlberg play a bad guy feels like viewing the actor with new eyes. He seems to be absolutely relishing in every evil moment he gets to partake in. There are some great lines but he can a bit cartoonishly evil at times. The bald cap is a bit hokey, and the hairline seems unnatural, but it was nice to see Wahlberg try something different.
I really wanted to like Flight Risk as I’ve always enjoyed plane thrillers. There’s something about being thousands of feet in the air which ramps up the tension. But there are so many nonsensical plot developments that I had to be sure I wasn’t watching some cheap streaming movie instead. The film is constantly at odds with how to keep things interesting while not making the characters look like total morons. Spoiler alert: they fail completely. I’m sure there are some old-school fans who will dig the aesthetic, but I just found it constantly lazy and uninspired.
Mel Gibson has always had a great understanding of story structure and cinematic language. So I’m not really sure what’s going on here as Gibson just feels like a gun for hire. The film starts really abruptly, and many of the plot points breeze by without an exclamation. The action is contained to an airplane so that limits it quite a bit, so I will commend Gibson for keeping it interesting despite essentially being in one setting. But the sheer lack of satisfying payoffs and boneheaded character decisions make this a chore to get through. I also wasn’t impressed with the FX work, as the CGI is overabundant.
Ultimately, is Flight Risk Mel Gibson’s big return as a director? Definitely not, but it shows he’s able to take himself less seriously and make something other than 3-hour epics. Plus, at least we finally got to see an evil Markie Mark. And that was worth the price of admission, at least. Here’s hoping he doesn’t take the poor quality of this film as a reason not to try it again. We definitely need more evil Wahlberg in the world.
FLIGHT RISK IS IN THEATERS ON JANUARY 24TH, 2025.
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