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Mel Gibson has become one of the most controversial figures in Hollywood, largely due to his political views (and other controversies you may easily Google). After making a comeback with the Oscar-nominatedHacksaw Ridge, Gibson’s career has stalled but now returns with a generic thriller,Flight Risk.
It’s puzzling why the tarnished Hollywood icon would follow up with a film as flimsy asFlight Risk. The special effects are poor, the acting is over the top, and, frankly, how this tepid thriller ended up in theaters instead of on a streaming platform is confounding. You may have seen a thriller so lazy and inept as a theatrical release in your lifetime by playing it too safe.
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Flight RiskReview and Synopsis
The film follows a government witness on the run. That man is Winston (That ’70s Show‘s Topher Grace), an informant responsible for laundering the payments and payouts of a mobster. Hot on Winston’s tail is Madylen Harris (Downtown’s Abbey’sMichelle Dockery), a Deputy U.S. Marshal with a past. Harris tracks her informant to Alaska.
After capturing him in a cabin in the middle of a small Alaskan town, Madylen is ordered to bring him in. She makes sure to get the first flight out—a small Cessna plane that looks barely holding together at the seams. They are flown back by a good old boy, Daryl Booth (a hubristic, impulsive, and most definitely foolhardyMark Wahlberg), who has a secret of his own.
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Mel Gibson’sFlight Riskis a Laughable Thriller!
You will immediately know Wahlberg’s secret if you seeMel Gibson’sFlight Risk trailer. The script, written by Jared Rosenberg, is technically considered a high concept. However, the film and most of the performances offer few surprises, including the script. Everything that happens feels like fluff and an exercise in futility.
We know Wahlberg’s Booth is a hitman immediately. Any fights or conflicts feel repetitive. You have a clichéd backstory revealed by Dockery and Grace’s characters, which are standard tropes. The story is formulaic and utterly predictable, including the laughable ending. Grace plays the same nerdy character with a little soul as Dockery’s cold, cynical types.
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IsFlight RiskWorth Watching?
This underscores the most interesting character, Wahlberg’s hitman, who is knocked out for a good third of the film. We learn nothing about him. At least Wahlberg takes some genuine risks, acting with a shaved head, which adds more to his performance and makes it, at the very least, interesting.
Yet, the film falls into the cliché of wanting the “bad guy” to savor his kill instead of just getting the job done. At the same time, Dockery’s character spends endless time not double-checking if the hitman is trying to get free and then stops looking for a weapon that serves as a key plot point. This is just presented as yet another standard and yawn-inducing thriller cliché.
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Flight Riskis, for lack of a better term, stupid. The humor falls flat, and the thrills are stagnant. Even brief moments of violence fail to elevate tension; they become grating. This surface-level and derivative thriller aims to take your money without offering any real payoff.
You canwatch Flight Risk only in theaters January 24th!
Flight Risk Review — Mel Gibson’s Latest Film is a Lazy and Inept Thriller!
M.N. Miller
Film & Television Critic
Articles Published :336
M.N. Miller is a film and television critic and a proud member of the Las Vegas Film Critic Society, Critics Choice Association, and a 🍅 Rotten Tomatoes/Tomato meter approved. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Mansfield University and a Master’s from Chamberlain University. However, he still puts on his pants one leg at a time, and that’s when he usually stumbles over. When not writing about film or television, he patiently waits for the next Pearl Jam album and chooses to pass the time by scratching his wife’s back on Sunday afternoons while she watches endless reruns of California Dreams. M.N. Miller was proclaimed the smartest reviewer alive by actor Jason Isaacs but chose to ignore his obvious sarcasm. you’re able to also find his work on Hidden Remote, InSession Film, Ready Steady Cut, Geek Vibes Nation, and Nerd Alert.
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