If you’ve seen the movie trailers for "Flight Risk", you know that it is about a pilot transporting an air marshal and her fugitive prisoner to trial, across a treacherous, snow-covered, mountain range.
You also know from the trailers, that the pilot (played by Mark Wahlberg) is actually a sadistic hit man who has killed the real pilot and is planning to kill both of his unsuspecting passengers (played by Topher Grace and Michelle Dockery). The trailers feature scenes of a violent struggle on the plane and one quick, dramatic shot of the plane crashing into a snow-capped mountain peak.
As with so many movies and movie trailers these days, we know a lot about "Flight Risk" before we ever walk into the theater. Maybe more than we want to know. What we don’t know is whether the prisoner and policewoman will be able to subdue their pilot, and who will fly the plane if they succeed. Does the plane actually crash, and does this turn the movie into a tale of survival? All that remains to be seen.
Another thing that we don’t necessarily know is the identity of the film’s director. All we do know from the trailers (in large print that fills the screen) is that "Flight Risk" is “From the acclaimed director of "Braveheart," "Hacksaw Ridge" and "Apocalypto.” It could have just said “from director Mel Gibson,” but, curiously, it didn’t.
More on that later.
Besides being an Eighties icon in movies like "Lethal Weapon" (1 – 4) and the "Mad Max" series, Mel Gibson has also worked behind the camera in the director’s chair, in the aforementioned movies, as well as his controversial mega-hit, "The Passion of the Christ" (2004).
He brings his collective, action-movie chops to "Flight Risk", a stripped-down, action-in-the-air, suspense thriller that focuses on just three characters. Most of the movie takes place in the confines of a small cargo plane. It’s the kind of film that you can make on a very limited budget.
That’s not to say that movies set in cramped conditions can’t be dramatic or entertaining. Hitchcock’s "Lifeboat" (1944) is a prime example. There are others.
Most of the drama in "Flight Risk" stems from the protagonists trying to subdue their captor (something that proves almost impossible to do) and to find a way to land a plane that is flying on autopilot and running out of fuel by the minute.
It’s a pretty dire situation, but for some strange reason, our heroes remain surprisingly calm. Granted, the marshall might be calm under pressure, but you would think the prisoner would be completely freaked out about being tortured and murdered or killed in a horrific plane crash.
Another dramatic element that surfaces is the marshall’s suspicion that there has been a security leak back at the office and that she might not be able to trust her colleagues or even her boss, via her cell phone. She wonders whether someone on the inside is on the take.
All of this adds up to some degree of suspense, amplified by Mark Wahlberg’s all-in performance as a repulsive, red neck villain with an ugly, patchy, balding head (a dramatic touch that Wahlberg himself suggested).
Not everything adds up in "Flight Risk." Early on, there is an opportunity to shoot the pilot after he makes his intentions clear and attempts to kill his passengers. He points out that it’s a bad idea to discharge a weapon on the plane, even though they are only flying at 3,000 feet and not 30,000 feet where cabin depressurization would be catastrophic. This is made clear later in the movie when multiple shots are fired without consequence.
It's not a perfect script, but Gibson and his cast make the most of it.
In the end, "Flight Risk" is a bumpy ride in more ways than one. It’s a struggle to keep this plane in the air and keep the suspense building with a limited cast in a very limited space, though the final reel eventually makes it worth the ride.
But there’s the curious omission of Mel Gibson’s name in the marketing of "Flight Risk." As we know, his reputation has taken some hits over the years with his outrageous and unpopular comments and verbal attacks ranging from Catholicism to Judaism. He’s no stranger to controversy. Recently, he was appointed to be a Special Ambassador (along with Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight) to what was characterized as a “troubled Hollywood.”
Gibson seems to enjoy attention, even if means occasionally ruffling some feathers. His upcoming projects include two sequels to "The Passion of the Christ," starring a digitally de-aged Jim Caviezel, reprising the role of Jesus. True to form, to anyone expecting a conventional approach to the story, he describes the first of the two upcoming films, being released in 2026, as “an acid trip.”
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