I'm torn on Flight. The good parts of it are absolutely great, but the mediocre parts are...aggressively mediocre, with an ending that was insultingly safe after what we're shown for over two hours.
Let's start with the best: the plane crash sequence. It's gripping, tense, and at some points nauseating, amazingly shot and edited. Denzel Washington is also amazing, and the supporting performances (Don Cheadle, John Goodman, and Kelly Reilly) are very good as well. John Goodman is only in a few scenes, but he's a complete joy to watch, and there's a one scene wonder cancer patient that completely takes over the scene he's in.
I know some people weren't a fan of this, but I actually like that Whip didn't have some sad backstory or big excuse for his drinking and drug use. We see and hear glimpses of his past, but there's no easy explanation to why he's an addict; it's refreshing not to have a big breakdown scene where he confesses that his dad was totally mean or he was an orphan or his mother died of breast cancer or whatever. I will admit that a lot of the film after the crash is just watching Whip spiral further and further down into addiction, but I have no problem watching a character be manipulative and self-destructive for long periods of time.
Now, while I just praised the film for not explaining Whip's addictions and Kelly Reilly for her performance, I have to say, her character Nicole is terrible. She's the heroin addict with a heart of gold, obviously written in to be a foil for the seemingly irredeemable Whip. She's the one with some sort of excuse (her mother died of breast cancer), and her relationship with Whip seems completely forced. We're also introduced to her way too early; Whip doesn't meet her until after the crash, but we see her beg for heroin and overdose in her shitty apartment after an altercation with her gross landlord during the buildup to the flight. It's basically wasted time; Flight is mainly a character study, and at that point in the film there's no reason for us to be invested in her yet.
But really, that wouldn't have been so bad except for the ending. It's terrible. Without it, the film would have been okay to pretty good, but the ending suddenly turns the entire film into a hardcore Lifetime movie. What makes it even worse is that two scenes before that, we have the funniest scene in the film, where a member of the pilot's union and Whip's lawyer have to think fast to get Whip ready for his hearing. Flight wouldn't have been a fantastic movie if it had ended less cloyingly, but it certainly would have been a lot better.
