FLIGHT RISK: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Overview: The film opens with a glaringly fake scene showcasing CGI snow falling outside a rundown motel in Alaska. Inside the shabby room, we meet Winston (played by Topher Grace) preparing instant noodles and getting surprised by a moose outside his window before abruptly getting arrested by the police. Winston fits the stereotype of a slimy accountant with a mundane appearance, serving as a money launderer for a prominent mob boss. In typical fashion for such characters in movies, he promptly decides to cooperate with the authorities, offering to testify against the criminal in exchange for protection. The deal is struck swiftly, as the authorities have bigger concerns to address.

Before Winston can be relocated from the remote Bent Armpit, Alaska, Deputy U.S. Marshal Madolyn Harris (portrayed by Michelle Dockery) is tasked with accompanying him on a private flight back to the mainland. Contrary to Winston’s expectations, the journey is not aboard a luxurious plane with amenities but a dilapidated Cessna piloted by a talkative Texan named Daryl Booth (played by Wahlberg). Winston comically protests the state of the aircraft, likening it to a flimsy kite with seat belts, echoing a sentiment reminiscent of Luke Skywalker’s reaction to the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars. 

So what we have here is two jokers and one serious no-nonsense U.S. Marshal taking a jalopy on a bumpy 75-minute flight, which means the movie pretty much plays out in real time. The pilot chonks his gum and blabbers on and on. The fugitive complains that he doesn’t really need to be in these shackles and cuffs (he has a point; he’s as threatening as a newborn giraffe). And the Marshal just grits her teeth and guts it out in true it’s a living fashion. 

The twist here is, and this isn’t a spoiler, promise: The trip goes poorly! What, did you think Madman Mel was going to make a movie consisting of three clashing personalities exchanging witty dialogue? “Daryl” isn’t who he says he is of course – he’s a maniac hired by the mob boss to turn the Marshal and the witness into wormfood. Now, logic dictates that “Daryl” keep his true motive under his toupee for as long as possible, but the movie might be boring if he did that. Besides, if Madolyn takes him out, who’s gonna fly the plane? Methinks he’s got them over a barrel. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: As far as tense-action-playing-out-at-a-few-thousand-feet thrillers go, Chloe Grace Moretz battled a World War II-era CG gremlin in Shadow in the Cloud, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt never left the cockpit for 90 minutes in hijacking thriller 7500. Dockery also turned up in in-the-air Liam Neeson vehicle Non-Stop. 

Performance Worth Watching: Go ahead. Try not to stare in awe at Wahlberg’s mostly hairless crown. I sat transfixed, like I was gawking at the last dodo bird in existence. He’s also pretty gross and funny in the role, chucking out his teeth in an overbite, his bulgy eyes generating potently off-putting evil-sicko vibes.

Memorable Dialogue: Madolyn grabs the yoke and navigates a terrifying near-miss, prompting Wahlberg to cackle, “I just made a Jackson Pollock in my pants!”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: You’d think an old pro like Gibson would ratchet up the intensity for a taut, economical genre flick like Flight Risk, but he never really makes us grip the couch cushions with sweaty hands. He at least holds our attention for the duration, but the screenplay – a  former Black List script by first-timer Jared Rosenberg – contrives to drop Wahlberg, the most entertaining component of the movie and the driving force of the conflict, from the drama for chunks of screen time. The film’s inability to sustain high-level tension derives more from plotting than direction, the need for a rewrite – and surely a limited budget, reportedly a modest $25 million – tying Gibson’s hands to a degree.

This leaves Dockery with the thankless task of being the glue that holds the movie together, playing the responsible straight woman across from a Grace’s wisecrackery and Wahlberg’s putrid bad-guy characterization (“You remind me of a gal I used to fiddle with,” he says to a surely icked-out Madolyn). The Madolyn character is resourceful enough to not only grab the yoke and take control, but also to make a series of satellite-phone and radio calls so she can root out – worm out? Dig out? Sniff out? Sniff out! – a mob-connected mole within her own agency. I’m torn between believing that the limited use of Wahlberg in this particular mode feeds us more potent, concentrated oogyness, and thinking more Wahlberg could’ve pushed a medium-goofy movie into full-blown highly entertaining looney-tunes mode. 

Gibson and Rosenberg’s storytelling choices lead to predictable bursts of peril, e.g., tussles in the cabin that find Grace shouting “Don’t shoot him, we NEED him!” and anxiety-ridden moments where non-pilots are forced to be pilots. There are brief moments of Gibson’s signature sadism – in case you haven’t noticed, dude’s got a fetish for extreme violence to rival Sylvester Stallone’s – and button-pushing dialogue that teeters on the edge of being annoying, if not offensive. But we’re left with the sense that either Gibby’s heart isn’t fully in it, or he’s lost some of his behind-the-camera mojo. Say what you will about the man and his ugly off-screen antics, but he’s definitely been a far better filmmaker than this.    

Our Call: I can’t say in good conscience that Flight Risk is worth paying to watch. It’s modestly entertaining in its best moments. But I suggest you SKIP IT until you can marvel at the unseemly Wahlberg pate for free.  

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.