Flight

I don't know if I've ever seen a Denzil Washington movie I didn't like.

He's kind of like Tom Hanks in that he has distinguished himself as an actor and he's able to choose the movies he does. Not only that but he's able to do big movies that are really good. It almost seems like his characters are very similar but at the same time incredibly different. And even if he does the same performance for different characters, he just too damn entertaining for me to care.

Denzil Washington plays Whip Whitaker, a commercial jet pilot. As the movie begins, he wakes up with a hooker, takes a snort of coke and then goes to fly a plane.

From the very beginning, Washington just gives off the vibe that he's a great pilot. He doesn't even need to fly the plane but he just has a confidence and an air about him that just bodes confidence. At the same time he gives off the air of cockiness and a devil may care attitude.

I won't describe the entire first scene of the movie but in short, the plane begins a nose dive and  is crashing. Even in the chaos, when everyone is freaking out, Whip is calm and collected the entire time. He brings the plane down and only 6 people die because of the crash. That is the first fifteen minutes of the movie. The rest of the movie is Whip dealing with the following investigation and it is discovered that not only did he snort cocaine before the flight but he was still drunk with a BAC of .24.

Washington gives just a brilliant performance of a man who is a straight up alcoholic. I cannot believe all the circumstances he's in where he's got a beer, in his hand, where he's drinking alcohol out of a water bottle. There's a scene where he buys a huge bottle of vodka and just chugs it in his car right outside the liquor store.

In the hospital after the crash, Washington meets a woman who is recovering from a heroin overdose. She is played by Kelly Reilly. I liked her character but I don't know if she was completely necessary for the plot. Her main point is to show how Whip will go to great lengths to lie about his alcoholism but so do a lot of characters in this film so I don't really know if she was necessary. She did an alright job in the scenes she was in but for the most part, this was Denzil Washington's movie.

The great part about the movie is that it really makes you feel for an incredibly irresponsible and sometimes just down right stupid character. There are times when all he needs to do to succeed is just not drink. But he'll drink anyway.

Its possibly one of the best films about alcoholism that I've ever seen and its not surprising that Washington was nominated for a Best Actor performance last year for this role.

It also brings up a lot of debate on the responsibility thrown onto Washington's character.

The first ever episode of Law and Order was about a surgeon who often went into surgery drunk. Nobody could tell almost ever but he was and he was prosecuted for the death of a woman on the operating table.

The interesting thing about this movie is that the crash of the plane really isn't Washington's fault. There is evidence to show that there was technical problems with the plane and yet there is an underlying theme that it doesn't matter. It was unethical for Whitaker to be drunk when he was flying that plane. It is kind of a great story about integrity and honor. Qualities I admire and sometimes fall short of in my own life.

I have mixed feelings about the ending. I thought it may have been too simple and a little contrived but it served its purpose. I really enjoyed the movie and I loved Washington's performance.

So have you seen Flight? What did you think? Comment and discuss below!

I'll leave you with this. One of my favorite movies with Denzil Washington is Training Day. Washington just gives a brilliant speech at the end of that movie and it just shows his ability to act. Here it is, Enjoy!