4 out of 5

Whip: Evan, listen to me. Trim us nose down. We're gonna roll it.
Ken Evans: What do you mean roll it?
Whip: Ready? Here we go.

Flight is a movie that serves as both great pure entertainment, a deep innovative character study, and a demonstration of the subject of morals meeting personal health issues.

First off, it is great to see Robert Zemeckis back with a live action movie that isn't made for children. He has never made anything this adult and racy, and in a sense I see that as his way of apologizing to his diehard fans of his movies like Forrest Gump and Castaway for not being consistent for 12 years. Just like those movies, Flight is extremely entertaining to watch. The fact that the movie uses its thought-provoking elements to evoke its entertainment value is just so "Zemeckis".

Harling Mays: You're a hero, man! You will never pay for a drink for as long as you live.

In Flight Denzel Washington plays Whip Whitaker, an Air Force veteran, now airline pilot who just so happens to have an addiction to alcohol and cocaine. One ordinary day Whip catches a a flight where something goes wrong. If it weren't for his advanced piloting skills, everyone on board the plane would probably be dead, but he saves almost everyone by turning the plane upside down and right-side-up again, killing only 6 people. Because of Whip's heavy drinking during the flight before the catastrophic malfunction, he automatically stops drinking all together. That is until it is found out that alcohol was found in his blood at the hospital and that he could go to jail.

It's quite a shocker to witness Denzel snort coke and not be seen as a 100 percent likable guy, but the film is not shy of demonstrating this in the opening scene. One thing I noticed about this character is he has a terrible problem with him making bad choices, yet for the most part his heart is in the right place. He does the best he can to lie, but refuses to blame the big incident on others. The big question this movie asks simply is: Who is Whip Whitaker? Simply put, I see him as a really great guy who just so happens to need rehabilitation.

Hugh Lang: I'm trying to save your life!
Whip: What life?

That is essentially what the movie Flight is: a damn good character study. Washington is at the top of his game here and no actor could replace him. With such a basic plot I wish more complex events had happened within the story, but still, any movie that can start out with an immensely compelling action scope and all of the sudden turn into a study of a drug struggling character and still impress me deserves high recognition.

Whip: Nobody could have landed that plane like I did.