Flight Risk (2025) Lionsgate/Action-Thriller RT: 91 minutes Rated R (violence and language) Director: Mel Gibson Screenplay: Jared Rosenberg Music: Antonio Pinto Cinematography: Johnny Derango Release date: January 24, 2025 (US) Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, Topher Grace, Leah Remini, Monib Abhat.
Rating: ***
I have a feeling that action fans twenty years from now will look at Flight Risk with the same nostalgia as we look at 90s actioners like Passenger 57 and Executive Decision. Maybe. There are a few differences. It’s set on a small private plane with only the pilot and two passengers on board. It unfolds in real time. Also, it lacks a strong action hero like Wesley Snipes and Kurt Russell. Instead, we get Michelle Dockery who looks lost being so far away from Downton Abbey. She’s easily eclipsed by the villain, played by Mark Wahlberg in a deliciously hammy performance that simply calls for a generous slathering of spicy brown mustard.
The plot is simplicity itself. Madelyn Harris (Dockery), a U.S. Marshal back in the field for the first time after botching an assignment, is escorting a government witness (Grace, BlacKkKlansman) to Anchorage where he will be flown to New York to testify against a mob boss. They can’t fly commercial for obvious reasons so they’re traveling by private plane. It’s the only way to keep the witness, an accountant with a lot of incriminating information, safe from harm. That’s the idea anyway.
The pilot, a talkative good ol’ boy who introduces himself as Daryl Booth (Wahlberg), turns out to be the threat they were trying to avoid. He’s a hired assassin sent to kill the witness and the agent somewhere in the Alaskan mountains. Much to his chagrin, Harris overpowers him and knocks him unconscious. It’s as much as a problem as it is a solution. With their pilot incapacitated, who’s going to fly the plane? Neither one of them knows how. Not only that, they’re low on fuel and don’t know where they are. It’s up to Harris to take control of the situation and get them to their destination alive.
I shouldn’t have liked Flight Risk as much as I did. It’s dumb. To be fair, it’s not as dumb as the average Michael Bay noisefest, but it definitely rests in the shallow end of the IQ pool. The acting is all over the map. The three cast members are never on the same page. It’s like they’re making different movies. Grace plays a character that seems to be channeling Charles Grodin from Midnight Run except he’s not even a tenth as funny. He’s whiny and annoying. Dockery is clearly out of her element even though she’s not new to the genre. She was in the Liam Neeson vehicle Non-Stop (which also took place on a plane). She doesn’t make a believable heroine.
Let’s talk about Wahlberg now. He’s the best thing in Flight Risk. His character is completely bonkers starting with the surname Booth. Even if the trailer didn’t give it away (which it does), that name would be a definite tip-off that he’s the bad guy. If you know your history, you know what I’m talking about. Wahlberg is really into it. Instead of wearing a bald cap, he partially shaved his head each day for the role. He affects a cartoonish Southern drawl which increases the OTT levels. It’s too bad he’s unconscious for most of the film. It sputters and jerks a lot while he’s down. His two co-stars can’t carry the load alone.
The most shocking thing about Flight Risk is that it’s directed by Mel Gibson. It feels like a big step down for the Oscar-winning director of the historical epic Braveheart. His other credits include The Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto and Hacksaw Ridge. I wonder what drew the one-time A-lister to what’s essentially a B-movie. Mel does a serviceable job with the material delivering a lean action-thriller that doesn’t overstay its welcome at a scant 91 minutes. It helps that newbie writer Jared Rosenberg trims the fat from his screenplay. In this case, the fat includes character development. We’re told no more about the characters than we need to know. We’re eventually told what happened on Harris’ last assignment and how it affected her career. We’re told that the witness has a mother he’s worried about. We’re told nothing about Booth except that he’s insane and likes New Order. Basically, we’re talking about stock characters here.
Flight Risk has a few decent action scenes and a finale that’s as ludicrous as it is abrupt. Speaking of ludicrous, I don’t even know what to say about the relationship that quickly develops between Harris and the pilot giving her instructions over the phone. He starts flirting with her from the word “hello”. She accepts his invitation for drinks after she lands the plane, if she lands the plane (come on, we know there’s no if about it!). You see, I told you Flight Risk is dumb!
Flight Risk is junk more or less. It’s predictable all the way through. It doesn’t bring anything new to the table. I can see why the studio bumped its release date to January. If they want it to be a success, it’ll have to be by default. It doesn’t have a hell of a lot of competition this weekend other than the Steven Soderbergh ghost story Presence and the expansion of the three-and-a-half hour opus The Brutalist. Yeah, it’ll probably make a few bucks this weekend, but that’s it.
Flight Risk is a bumpy ride, but I liked it. And I’m sure I’ll like it even more when I regularly revisit it twenty years from now (if I’m still here).
