‘Flight Risk’ a turbulent travesty

For many people, going to the movies shouldn’t be a challenging thing. They want to take two hours, forget their troubles, and find out what happens when a plane transporting a federal witness gets hijacked by a hitman with a particularly glaring bald spot.

It could be so simple, but, in the case of Flight Risk, the end result is a film that’s not just bad, but also incredibly dull.

At first glance, you might think that’s too harsh for a movie without any lofty ambitions. Flight Risk is a film with a simple premise that doesn’t need to do much to deliver. Even with such an incredibly low bar, the movie ends up a disappointment. The dire situation of a claustrophobic plane ride thrown off course ought to be thrilling, but, instead, it’s over an hour with three people you wouldn’t want to be caught sitting next to on a flight.

You have Mark Wahlberg as Daryl the balding assassin who portrays a sadist with all the threatening aura of a 12-year-old who just learned how to curse, Topher Grace playing Winston the Witness whose incessant chatter makes you wish for his demise, and Michelle Dockery’s Madolyn who is so inept it makes every obstacle that befalls her feel like a case of karmic justice or Darwinism at work.

With no one to root for, you’re left with the hope of the story taking you to new and unexpected places. Instead, the movie is excessively predictable, if only because the characters are intent on displaying the worst possible decision-making. The way the plot unfolds is extremely frustrating. If the hitman fools you once, shame on the hitman, but the same hitman fools you three times? At that point, I root for the hitman.

At the end of the day, I’d like to say the movie at least delivers on the action, the suspense, the thrills. Unfortunately, I can do no such thing. It’s a movie where you’ll spend more time looking at your watch than the cinema screen. The best thing Flight Risk achieves is creating the immersive experience of being a flight that’s been going on too long and which you can’t wait to be over.

Rating: Read A Book

Damian Levy is a film critic and podcaster for Damian Michael Movies.