Take this Flight

Denzel Washington as Captain William "Whip" Whitaker in Flight.
Captain William "Whip" Whitaker is a horrible person. He has demons that he refuses to deal with and he's flying a plane with 102 souls on it.
He was already drunk and high when he came to work. Refused to use the auto pilot and took more drinks while flying. And how did he spend the night before? Having sex, alcohol and drugs with sexy flight attendant Katerina Marquez.
When the plane begins to dive and Whip has to take bold, dangerous and extreme measures to save the plane and the people on it, he unleashes a storm that shows how messed up Whip really is.

But as horrible as Whip is, Denzel Washington plays this tragic character brilliantly. He's cocky when he should and shouldn't be. He owns up to his problems, privately, while dealing with the NTSB investigation and a damning toxicology report.
Whip also bites the hand that feeds him, his pilot's union rep, Charlie Anderson played by Bruce Greenwood, is on the receiving end of a tongue lashing and the lawyer, Hugh Lang played brilliantly by Don Cheadle is the object of Whip's disgust.

Washington and Cheadle were best friends in one my favorite movies, Devil In A Blue Dress. Though Mouse and Easy are back together, friends they are not. I feel like Cheadle was underutilized in this movie, but when he was on the screen, he was magical.

Make no mistake, though, this is Denzel Washington's movie. He lights up the screen as this drunk, drugged out airline pilot. His relationship with John Goodman's character Harling Mays is pure comedy. After all, we all need a friend who brings porn and cigarettes to us when we're in the hospital.

The build up of this movie and the twist and turns does lead to a disappointing ending, which I won't give away. Despite the ending, Flight is worth seeing.

Running time: 139 minutes

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