Film Review: FLIGHT (2012)

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writer: John Gatins
Running time: 138 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Drama/Thriller
UK Release date: 1^st February 2013

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 5^th October 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I heard quite a lot about this one on release; it made quite a splash, even gaining two Oscar nominations. Of course it never played at my local and so I’ve had to wait until now when it aired on TV. Was it worth the wait? Yes, although it’s not one I would have paid full price for on DVD. It does have one or two issues, which I’ll discuss later, but over all, it’s a pretty good watch. Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

When pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) saves a commercial aircraft from certain disaster he becomes a hero. But it is not as straightforward as it seems. He has a drink problem and this is going to make life very difficult for quite a few people before the crash investigation is over. His union rep, Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood) and the lawyer for the airline, High Lang (Don Cheadle) do their best to suppress certain condemning evidence against him but at the end of the day it’s Whip who’ll have to testify. The film takes us through his personal journey from the day of the crash onwards. In the hospital he meets a recovering addict, Nicole (Kelly Reilly), who he helps out and the pair of them live together for a while. Eventually though she cannot be around him because of his drinking and she leaves. He is taken to an AA meeting but nothing seems to work. His testimony is coming up and extreme measures are needed to keep him sober, but will it work?

Although I liked this film I did find it a little too long; in fact I have to admit that I watched it in two halves. From a totally stunning sequence at the start I felt it lost momentum for a while, that was until I became embroiled in the drama of Whip Whitaker’s story. It’s quite a tale and an excellent performance from Denzel Washington holds it all together quite brilliantly. I also thought Kelly Reilly did a pretty good job as well. But back to the opening sequence for a moment, for me it ranks as one of the best special effects driven sequences I’ve seen in a very long time and hats off to all involved. Taken as a whole, the film does take the audience on quite a journey and I know for some it couldn’t quite live up to that crash sequence. For me I thought it held together pretty well, mainly thanks to the acting skills of Mr Washington. Over all, definitely worth a watch but don’t get blown away by the crash sequence, there’s a lot more depth to it than that.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 7.8/10.

IMDb Score: 7.3/10 (based on 150,410 votes when this review was written).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1907668/

MetaScore: 76/100: (Based on 40 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 78/100: (based on 217 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 75/100: (based on 140,800 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/flight_2012/

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LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.paramount.com/flight/
Trailer:

Film Review: MEEK’S CUTOFF (2010)

Director: Kelly Reichardt
Writer (screenplay): Jonathan Raymond
Running time: 104 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

Genre: Western/Drama
UK Release date: 15^th April 2011

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 5^th May 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is another of those films that got recommended during an online discussion. This time the topic was Westerns and those that know me will know I’m not particularly a fan of the genre. I did, however, add it to ‘The List’ and it finally came into view this week. I must say I found it quite different to anything else I’ve seen in its genre, quite gritty and realistic without any of that Hollywood ‘polish’. I will tell you more after this very brief summary.

It is 1845 and many settlers are making their way along the Oregon Trail. A group of three families have split off with their guide, Stephen Meek, to take a short cut across what proves to be a very harsh wilderness. We follow the families as their water supply dwindles and they become more desperate. They come across a Native American who some of the group hope can lead them to water. Others, including Meek are less trusting. I won’t say any more or the Spoiler Police (Western’s Division) will be taking my Sherriff’s badge and six shooters off me (again).

I was surprised to find the film was made in a 4:3 aspect ratio which (I felt) did not lend itself to the landscape. The audience is restricted to a box-like view of what looks like an amazing landscape and I was slightly disappointed by that. All of the performances were very good, the dialogue is quite unusual and there is some interesting use of sound where some dialogue is partially drowned out by other sounds, it’s quite naturalistic. So I’ll give honourable mentions to; Michelle Williams as Emily Tetherow, Bruce Greenwood as Stephen Meek, Will Patton as Soloman Tetherow, Zoe Kazan as Millie Gaitley, Paul Dano as Thomas Gaitley, Shirley Henderson as Glory White and Rod Rondeaux as The Indian.

The very natural style put me in mind of the work of Terrence Malick although this is very different in a lot of ways too. I must warn potential viewers that the film has a very slow pace and the narrative doesn’t follow the traditional beginning – middle – end pattern. You will also find that the scenes at night are extremely dark, there seems to be no additional lighting apart from that given off by camp fires and lanterns. All in all though I did find this one quite enthralling; I became invested in the characters and was interested in the outcome of their adventure. If you’re interested in early American history then I can highly recommend it; it’s certainly not your traditional Western that’s darn tootin’.

My score: 7.5/10

IMDb Score: 6.6/10 (based on 3,962 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1518812/

MetaScore: 85/100: (Based on 36 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 85/100 (based on 116 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 55/100 (based on 7,589 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/meeks_cutoff/

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http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
None available

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://meekscutoff.com/
Trailer: