 Director: Mel Gibson Starring: Mark Wahlberg Studio: Lionsgate Genre(s): Action Rated: R (For violence and language) |
Despite what you may feel about the man on a moral level, there is no denying that Mel Gibson is a brilliant filmmaker. He has an eye for visuals, a sense of pacing, and a flair for the dramatic that is rare. He can direct personal dramas like “The Man Without a Face” to Oscar-winning epics like “Braveheart.” Which is why his latest feature – “Flight Risk” – is such a baffling production; it feels like the sort of amateurish production that inspired Gibson to go behind the camera in the first place, because he knew he could probably make a better action movie than the men directing him.
On paper, this seems like it should be a movie right up his alley: a cooperating witness and an FBI agent find themselves in trouble when it turns out the pilot of the aircraft meant to bring them to safety turns out to be a hired hit man to take them out. What we have is a situation where two people are stuck in the air with a killer (Mark Wahlberg). The man is the only one who knows how to fly the plane and (worse) seems unconcerned about dying if it comes down to it. The FBI agent (Michelle Dockery) is being a stickler for the rules because she got desked after her last case went south due to some mistakes she made.
All of this is about as average and predictable as you can imagine. Shortly after taking flight, the shortcomings of the film become obvious. Everyone is in a small plane, so there is no room for anyone to set up a proper cat-and-mouse chase. Wahlberg – who is doing his best he can to make the most of his screen time – spends most of the film chained up and unconscious. Even when he seems to have the upper hand, he never comes off as a threatening antagonist. There is so little action that most of “Flight Risk” feels like Gibson just put a camera in front of two people and watched them talk about their lives.
Lives that are, frankly, not interesting or complicated. I know Gibson is no longer considered A-list talent in the industry (he wasn’t even called back to star in the sequel to “Chicken Run”), but he is big enough that he can choose his own projects. I understand that his company produced this, but what about the project made him want to direct it himself? This is the kind of movie you let a first-time director cut their teeth on to see if they can make something out of it. To think that a well-established director with a great artist track record made this makes the whole thing worse.
 |
Comments
Post a Comment