Hatchet reporter Margaret Kahn shares her latest movie experience.

“Flight” (2012)
★★★✰✰

When I was young, my greatest dream was to be a pilot. “Flight,” directed by Robert Zemeckis, would have crash-landed my childhood hopes.

While the movie may be framed by the descent of a plane, it is really about the descent of a man into a spiral of drugs, lies and severe alcoholism.

Denzel Washington stars as Whip Whitaker, a hedonist pilot we are introduced to through a cocaine-fueled morning-after bedroom scene with a flight attendant. Whip is cocky and confident as he gulps down a screwdriver before entering the cockpit, and jokingly offers his nervous young copilot (Brian Geraghty) hits of oxygen. However, the short flight from Orlando to Atlanta is interrupted by bad weather and extreme equipment failure, and the plane carrying 102 people begins to plummet. As passengers, flight attendants and the copilot spiral into hysteria, Whitaker is put to the test.  The opening crash scene is the most nerve-wracking event I have witnessed on screen. Expect a huge adrenaline rush that feels exactly like the moment at the summit of a roller coaster.

While Washington is a terrific actor, it’s his character Whitaker who continually disappoints. By the time he managed to do something good, it was too late and I had stopped rooting for him. Over and over, supporting characters, such as Don Cheadle as a savvy lawyer and Bruce Greenwood, playing an old Navy buddy, try to help him, and just as the audience gets its hopes up, Whitaker fails us. His aggravating self-sabotage and lack of personal growth caused me to eventually give up.

To its credit, the film successfully evokes some true moral dilemmas that stay with you long after you’ve left the theater. While audiences grapple with the brave act of a less than virtuous protagonist, questions linger: Is it moral to commit a crime if the end result is admirable?

It is possible to create an unlikable character that audiences will still root for, and in “Flight” this isn’t done. Don’t go to this movie looking for inspiration – you’ll leave frustrated.

Genre: Drama
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Denzel Washington, Brian Geraghty, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle
Release Date: Nov. 2