Flight Risk

'Flight Risk' is a film that I'm not totally convinced by, though in the end I think I like it. On the one hand, it has inconsistent suspense, has dodgy humour and doesn't truly entertain like an action thriller ought to. On the other hand, the performances are good, the exterior plane shots are convincing and the twisty nature makes it watchable. Mark Wahlberg (amusing accent), Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace are actors that I enjoyed watching here, Grace manages to overcome some cringey dialogue that was (hopefully, for his sake) written for him; the banter isn't great, the more serious stuff he is solid at. Monib Abhat also has iffy comedy, though does make it work more; a mostly voice role helps. Overall, a fine time at the movies. Like last week, I was fortunately able to watch it as part of a double header on the big screen - this time with Steven Soderbergh's 'Presence'. Back-to-back 90 minutes, I'm cool with long run times but sometimes its nice to have films of such a length. For what it's worth, that other flick is the better.

With the boss of the "Moretti" crime family about to go on trial, his accountant "Winston" (Topher Grace) thought it better to skedaddle to the Alaskan wilderness. Unluckily for him, determined deputy marshal "Madolyn" (Michelle Dockery) tracks him down and engages the pilot of a single-prop aircraft to fly him back to New York to turn state's evidence. The pilot (Mark Wahlberg) is one of those annoyingly chirpy guys and off they set. It's gonna be a bumpy ride, but after she notices a few scars on this man, it proves to be a great deal bumpier as their tiny little cockpit becomes the scene for quite a power struggle. It's that claustrophobic environment and quite an engaging effort from Wahlberg that deliver here as this airborne game of cat and mouse hots up. Sure, it does repeat itself once too often and the story is really all quite predictably weak, but the scenario does work well enough and with Grace's wise-cracking and a competent performance from Dockery it's actually not a bad watch for ninety minutes.