It's the tail-end of January. Nobody is expecting any blockbusters right now, so it's a solid time to release the miserably problematic Mel Gibson's newest offering, Flight Risk. It's a film that feels made for Saturday afternoon TBS runs, the kind you put on because the blurb sounds reasonably interesting and you have nothing else to watch.
Flight Risk is the type of modest thriller that gives you no expectations. It's a tight 91 minutes. The one thing I will give it, though, is that at no point during the film did I wish it would end sooner. If anything, this film could have benefited from an extra 10-15 minutes to tie everything more neatly together.
It's a no-frills plot. A mob accountant named Winston (Topher Grace) is on the run in Alaska when he is apprehended by Madolyn Harris (Michelle Dockery), a U.S. Marshal. She needs him to testify in court, which he reluctantly agrees to do with the caveat of full protection against his former boss. However, their only way back to civilization is via a small, extremely unstable cargo plane. Their pilot is Daryl (Mark Wahlberg), who at first glance appears to be another fast-talking Alaskan. We all know, though, that this is not the case.
Not long into the flight, Daryl's secret is revealed: Rather than a simple pilot, he is actually a trained assassin with a penchant for nicknames and talking glibly and gleefully about his past kills. He isn't taking Harris and Winston to get them to Seattle; he's going to take them someplace in the wilderness to do ... something to them. And his name isn't Daryl. From this point on, Daryl's rather impressive baldness pattern takes center stage. I'm sorry; it was all I could focus on once his hat got knocked off. How does one achieve that hairline?
After the big reveal, the action does dial back a bit to focus more on the logistics of what happens when you fight a pilot on a small plane. This film seemed like it would be a nonstop action fest from takeoff to landing, but much of it more or less peters out after the initial fight. The stakes are not exactly high, and the focus quickly moves on to Harris's secrets.
Winston is the best part of the film by far, and Topher Grace plays him with his effortlessly dry and equally always panicked humor. He provided the much-needed levity, especially in response to some of Daryl's more grotesque stories. Dockery does what she can with the role, but even with the heavy lingering secret of Harris's past, she isn't given enough dimension to shine, though she does more or less carry the film with her performance. Wahlberg is straight Bostonian here, and not quite believable as a mob assassin. If anything, he seems more like a henchman than anything, the guy on the ground you use when you need anger and brute force.
Flight Risk does have its highs, and it does have its lows. For what it was, it was an enjoyable quick trip to the theatre. The moment it was done, my first thought: My parents would love this one. Which is to say, that isn't a slight at all, it is just a simple fact. At its core, Flight Risk is a film for the Boomers who love any sort of action and don't mind cardboard dialogue.
If you're looking for l0w-stakes popcorn fun, or you're simply bored on a cold January evening, then strap in, embrace Mark Wahlberg's hairline, and enjoy the ride.