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Washington soars in ‘Flight’

graphic+by+Connor+Gillooly+14
graphic by Connor Gillooly ’14

By Sam Kuhna ’13 | Staff Writer

Drugs, alcohol and no sleep would seem to be the ingredients for a disaster in just about any situation. Denzel Washington does it while piloting a plane in the thriller “Flight”.

Washington, known as “Whip Whitaker” in the film, plays a drunken pilot who has little going for him. He has no relationship with his wife or son, no family, and no idea what his next step in life is. All he knows is that he is piloting a flight from Orlando to Atlanta.

Showing up for the flight minutes before takeoff, Whitaker is still feeling the effects of the early morning drinking and cocaine. After a turbulent takeoff, it seems the flight will ride smoothly all the way to Atlanta. However close to landing, part of the plane breaks off causing a complete nosedive. Frantically, Whitaker has to make his most critical decision, rolling the plane upside down to slow and stabilize the aircraft.

After the crash, Whip wakes up in an Atlanta hospital forgetting everything that happened since the plane went down. What he doesn’t know is that while he was unconscious the National Transportation Safety Board took his blood which showed a 0.24 BAC and found cocaine in his system.

Upon waking, Washington meets a recovering Heroin addict Nicole (Kelly Reilly) in the hospital and they click immediately. After their encounter in the hospital he makes a promise that he will come and visit her when they get out.

After leaving the hospital, the first thing Whitaker does is get rid of all of his alcohol. However, after he finds out that he is in the middle of an NTSB investigation, he’s right back to his old ways. This starts the slowest and saddest part of the movie in which Whip and Nicole become attached despite Whip’s bad influence on her. She finally had enough of his drinking and wild rants and leaves him.

The other part of the movie is spent with Whitaker running away and hiding from reporters, while his lawyer and union representative solve his case.

The movie ends with a questioning session from the NTSB in which Whip shows up drunk and high to. His lawyer has acquitted him of all charges if he can just stick to answering the questions the board has for him. But by the end, he cracks, realizing he has nowhere else to run or hide.

He tells the board he was the one who drank the two miniature vodka bottles. He admits that he did drink the morning of the flight. And most importantly, he admits he has a problem.

Despite some slow points in the movie, Denzel Washington fails to disappoint. Along with a good supporting cast, Washington creates a great thriller with a twisted ending. This was Washington’s best movie since “Remember the Titans”. This movie is an A all the way.

 

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