When any non-awards movie opens in January, there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to be bad; after all, January is where movie studios go to bury their bad projects. Granted, I try to go into every movie with an open mind… even if the trailer looks bad. But if a movie has a bad trailer, opens in January, and stars Mark Wahlberg as a gum-smacking villain, with a distractingly fake bald head, chances are you’re in for a doozy. And “doozy” is an understatement when it comes to FLIGHT RISK. This movie is completely lacking in suspense, has one-dimensional, unlikable characters, and so many ridiculous plot points, the audience in my theater was laughing… mostly in non-comedic moments.
Let me set the scene. Madelyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) is a U.S. Marshal who has been stuck on desk duty after her leadership lost faith in her. But they decide to give her another chance when it’s time to escort mafia accountant detainee (turned witness) Winston (Topher Grace) from his hideout in Alaska back to New York City. His testimony alone is enough to put his mob boss away forever, so it’s incredibly important that Harris brings him back all in one piece; it doesn’t hurt that it will also build back her reputation and keep her in the field. So Harris and Winston jump onto a small puddle jumper plane to get them back to Anchorage. But things don’t go according to plan when their pilot Daryl (Mark Wahlberg) reveals himself to be a hitman hired by the mob to eliminate the star witness. Will Harris be able to overpower him and how did the mob find out about the witness transfer in the first place?
I can excuse silly plot devices like how it makes no sense that one marshal would go by herself to move a prisoner that is a clear mob target (it is never explained what happened to the other two officers that were accompanying her earlier on). Or why said marshal did such a poor job planning, she had no idea what the pilot of her plane was supposed to look like. But what I cannot excuse are glaringly stupid character decisions that happen over and over again to the point that it’s laughable. The most egregious of those decisions being on a continuous basis, Daryl is tied up in the back of the plane and inevitably, Harris and Winston would look away just long enough for him to get out of his restraints and attack them again. How are you supposed to root for a character that is that clueless and ignorant? And this is coming from a Michelle Dockery fan.
And that brings me to my other main point—the film’s three main characters are one-dimensional and completely unlikable. And I don’t mean unlikable in an anti-hero kind of way. I mean unlikable in an “I don’t care what happens to any of these people, I just want the movie to be over” kind of way. Winston is incredibly obnoxious, which makes any tense moments involving him moot. I really tried to care about Harris; I even looked past my own discomfort with hearing Michelle Dockery use an American accent (note: her accent was fine, but I was confronted with what I call the “Keira Knightley effect” where it’s unsettling to not hear a British accent). But how are you supposed to care about a character that has zero personality and an underdeveloped backstory with little emotional weight?
It’s no wonder that director Mel Gibson has been trying to hide his affiliation to FLIGHT RISK—or maybe the film is trying to hide its affiliation to him. Who can say? Either way, this is a textbook January stinker and I implore you to heed my warning and stay away. With other Oscar-nominated films out in theaters and streaming (like Conclave on Peacock), please see those instead.
My Review: D
