Time: 91 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Violence, offensive language, sexual references & content that may disturb
Cast:
Michelle Dockery as Madolyn Harris
Mark Wahlberg as the Pilot / “Daryl Booth”
Topher Grace as Winston
Director: Mel Gibson

I didn’t expect much from Flight Risk going in, but based on the marketing and everything I saw from the movie, I at least thought it might be a silly action thriller. I checked it out despite the negative reactions and somehow came away feeling disappointed.

With most of the film being set on a plane in the air, Flight Risk aims to be a contained/confined space thriller. If you had seen the marketing for the movie, you’d think that it was aiming to be a silly action flick with lots of campiness, from the poster tagline “Y’all need a pilot?”, to Mark Wahlberg being bald (and that being a reveal in both the trailer and the movie). Despite some silliness, Flight Risk mostly takes things seriously, and isn’t that outrageous by action movie standards. The problem is that it’s not that engaging either. The plot is formulaic, the characterisation is thin, and the lack of tension sorely needed to make a movie like this work just isn’t there at all. 90 minutes is the perfect length for its concept, but it still felt sluggish with its less than engaging or exciting plot. The last thing I was expecting was for it to be somewhat boring, though it does have an entertaining scene every so often.

From the marketing, Mark Wahlberg appeared to be the main star, and here he takes on a rare villain role as a hitman who disguised himself as a pilot. And yes, as the trailers have been emphasizing so much, he is bald. For what it’s worth, Wahlberg looks like he’s having a ton of fun being unhinged here. Overacting to the point of comedy, he seems to be on a different wavelength from everyone else in this movie. Despite this, he’s actually one of the film’s biggest disappointments. His name may be credited first, but for much of the movie he’s kept tied up or unconscious at the back of the plane, and every so often it remembers that he’s still around and throws in a scene of him being really silly. Really the main actors are Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace. Dockery does well enough trying to add drama and emotion to her part, Grace is largely there to deliver comic relief and quips. They both do their parts fine, but they can only do so much with this material.

So many things can be said about Mel Gibson, especially about him as a person. Based on his work on Braveheart and Hacksaw Ridge however, you can still say that he’s a capable director. That said, none of that talent is on display in Flight Risk. Every part of the movie from the camerawork to the editing and CGI looks incredibly cheap. From beginning to end, it looks like a generic straight to streaming flick that barely anyone would watch. The only time where you can see Gibson’s style on display is in one gory scene in the third act.

Flight Risk is a generic, underwhelming and mediocrely directed action thriller, only coming alive with a few entertaining moments and an unhinged (yet underutilised) Mark Wahlberg. It’s a very disposable movie that somehow managed to be disappointing even though I went in with low expectations.