Flight Risk

飞常危机

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score : -

Opening : 23 Jan 2025

Runtime : 91 mins

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Format(s) Available

DIGITAL

Rating	NC16 Coarse Language & Some Violence
Language	Englishwith Chinese & Malay subtitles
Genre	Suspense, Thriller
Director	Mel Gibson
Cast	Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, Topher Grace
Synopsis	In this high-stakes suspense thriller, Academy Award nominee Mark Wahlberg (Best Supporting Actor for The Departed) plays a pilot transporting an Air Marshal (Michelle Dockery) accompanying a fugitive (Topher Grace) to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.

REVIEWS

By InCinemas 22 Jan 2025

Brace yourself for a bumpy flight.

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Mel Gibson is a long known Hollywood veteran with a controversial past but one cannot deny his positive streak when it comes to directing. Now, he returns to the director’s chair with action-thriller Flight Risk, almost a decade after the success of the critically-acclaimed biographical war drama Hacksaw Ridge (2016). The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, and Topher Grace.

Flight Risk follows U.S. Marshal Harris (Dockery) as she escorts a government witness (Grace) to trial after he is accused of getting involved with a mob boss. They discover that the pilot who is transporting them (Wahlberg) is actually a hitman that had been sent to assassinate the informant. After they subdue him, they’re forced to fly together after discovering that there are others attempting to eliminate them.

While the direction may seem promising, the same can’t be said about the lacklustre script that leaves no room for imagination or anticipation for a delicious twist, lest you do yourself a favour to avoid watching the trailer before diving into the film. Worse are the characters we only hear through conversation Harris has via a satellite phone – none who sound the least bit interested or interesting despite not even having to appear on screen – but the one that takes the cake is the pilot Hassan who’s tasked to verbally guide Harris to land the plane safely. You’d think if the filmmakers wanted us to feel the stakes and impending doom of their characters’ lives, they wouldn’t include a nonsensical subplot that has Hassan flirting with Harris more than he gives a damn about what is actually transpiring up in the air. I’ll give it that his moments helped lighten the tone of the film every time he’s needed but surely he doesn’t actually want to go on a date with a woman who can’t even pronounce his name correctly despite him introducing himself the right way? Hasan Minhaj did not spend his minutes on Ellen to be disappointed like that!

Set mostly in the confines of a small plane, Flight Risk pigeonholes itself with a handicap that would rely heavily on dialogue and whatever possible action the space permits. This unfortunately works less in its favour, no thanks to the abbhorent script. The trio of actors do give the best performance they can muster – with Grace being effortlessly funny and Dockery’s winning accent but Wahlberg comes out on top with his nonchalant villainy despite being incapacitated half the time.

Flight Risk is appreciated for its succint runtime of 90 minutes and does pack a punch when it allows itself to. This may just be Gibson’s weakest link yet but if Hollywood is on his side, perhaps he’ll be given another chance to redeem himself.
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Flight Risk