Flight Risk
Natalie Portman Teaches Acting
A US Marshall transporting an important witness discovers that the pilot of her charter is a hired hitman in Flight Risk. Deputy US Marshall Madelyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) apprehends mob accountant Winston (Topher Grace), who has been hiding out in Alaska. Winston agrees to testify about the mob boss Moretti and Harris accompanies Winston on a charter flight to Anchorage. However, soon after takeoff, it is discovered that the pilot Daryl Booth (Mark Wahlberg) is a hitman hired to take out Winston. Not only does Harris have to incapacitate the sadistic killer, but she has to find a way to fly the purposely off-course plane to Anchorage.
Flight Risk Synopsis
Flight Risk is a thriller directed by Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge), starring Michelle Dockery (Downton Abby, The Gentlemen, Boy Kills World), Mark Wahlberg (Uncharted), and Topher Grace (Heretic). The bulk of the plot of the film takes place on an Alaskan charter plane, which has been hijacked by Wahlberg’s sadistic and bald hitman “Daryl.” Dockery’s character of Deputy US Marshall Madelyn Harris is successful with incapacitate Daryl and uses her satellite phone to call for help from her supervisor Caroline Van Sant (Leah Remini).
Guided by extremely flirtatious pilot Hasan (Maaz Ali), Harris is guided on how to safely land the plane in Anchorage. However, the taunts by Daryl causes Harris to fear that there may be a mole in the US Marshall’s office. Not knowing who to trust, Harris decides to express these concerns to the director Coleridge (Paul Ben-Victor).
My Thoughts on Flight Risk
Flight Risk is Mel Gibson’s first film as director, since his Oscar-nominated 2016 comeback Hacksaw Ridge. However, nobody should expect any awards accolades for Flight Risk, which is arguably the most generic film Mel Gibson has been behind the camera for. While the film is a perfectly serviceable thriller, it suffers from only having three main characters in a confined space and finding ways to stretch the plot across its 91 minute running time.
After embracing his Christian identity co-starring with Mel Gibson in 2022’s Father Stu, Mark Whalberg as the hitman Daryl is simultaneously the best and worst character of Flight Risk. Whalberg’s charisma helps in the first act when he is pretending to be a friendly southern pilot. You almost wish that the marketing for Flight Risk did not spoil that not only is this pilot a Boston-accented hitman, but that he was wearing a toupee under his cap, hiding a bald head.
Despite being an incredibly charismatic character, Whalberg’s Daryl is also incredibly sadistic and disturbing, as he aldues to the fact that he plans to rape Michelle Dockery’s Madelyn Harris before killing her. The biggest problem is a characters as sadistic as Daryl, is that he has to be incapcitated not once, but twice in order to process the plot. It also doesn’t help that Dockery is the only protagonist with full movement, as Topher Grace’s Winston remains handcuffed throughout this whole ordeal.
As plot filler, Flight Risk features several supporting characters present through phone calls. The most prominent of these are Madelyn Harris’ supervisor Caroline Van Sant and pilot Hasan, the latter of whom guides Harris how to fly the plane, when he is not casually asking her out on dates. Appart from constant taunting by Daryl, the middle section of Flight Risk does drag.
While it is possible to watch Flight Risk while ignoring the politics and controveries of the man behind the camera, it does somehow feel wrong that Mel Gibson’s first film is nearly a decade is able to get a wide theatrical release, while the similarly-themed and much better Carry-On gets released on Netflix. I suppose I shouldn’t lament too much on changing exhibition practices, thought I’m also left questioning what type of audience Flight Risk is meant to attract. With it’s sadistic villains and instances of surprisingly graphic violence, Flight Risk is a film that is not only typical of a film directed by Mel Gibson, but also symbolic of the climate of the United States as a whole.
Trailer for Flight Risk
