From Jeremy Kibler

From the director of Braveheart and Apocalypto comes an amusingly junky 91-minute thriller co-starring a deranged Mark Wahlberg in a bald cap. Yes, Mel Gibson is the filmmaker behind Flight Risk, an A-to-B, air-to-ground programmer that would’ve made its rotation on HBO back in 1997. While it doesn’t qualify as a good movie, it’s an enjoyably dumb one. 

Here’s the skinny: disgraced, no-nonsense U.S. marshal Deputy Madolyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) finds a government witness, high-strung mob accountant Winston (Topher Grace), hiding out in Alaska. She needs him to testify against his criminal  boss, and though he isn’t dangerous, Winston is held prisoner by Madolyn on a very rickety charter plane to Seattle. The plane’s pilot, Daryl Booth (Wahlberg), though, is not who he seems to be: he is the dangerous one and hired to kill them both. When “Daryl” attacks Madolyn and then gets left unconscious, who’s fit enough to fly the plane? 

As a director, Mel Gibson clearly knows how to make a film on a much bigger, much more ambitious scale than Flight Risk, which is essentially Executive Decision, Turbulence, or Con Air as a three-hander. But how does one explain the opening scene with an establishing shot in a motel parking lot (as well as a jump scare with a CG moose) that is clearly made by artificial intelligence? After those unpromising signs of amateurishness, Gibson does manage to get some tension out of such a tight space and a perilous scenario that (take away the prologue) goes down in real time. 

The script by Jared Rosenberg, however, is usually a groaner. In fact, the film might have improved with less dialogue, or fewer dopey, prurient wisecracks. If one turned this into a drinking game for every time Wahlberg’s character made a prison rape joke at Winston’s expense, a stomach would definitely need to be pumped. Wahlberg even threatens to give a titty twister. 

There’s an entire corruption plot taking place on the ground (Leah Remini voices Madolyn’ superior), and by staying in the air with Madolyn and Winston, we’re only getting the radio play version of it. There’s also an on-the-ground pilot named Hasan (voice of Maaz Ali), who guides Madolyn to safety with a flirtatious way meant to distract and put her at ease, and the inclusion of this wrong-time romance is actually more charming than it sounds. 

Mark Wahlberg is having a good time chewing scenery as a lecherous psychopath (a rare opportunity for him nowadays), and yet, this hammy performance makes one long to watch him all over again in 1996’s Fear where he was more effective as Reese Witherspoon’s dangerous alpha-stud boyfriend. We won’t even speak of the silly hairpiece. As “Daryl Booth” (a great name but sadly only an alias), Wahlberg is chatty, endlessly threatening and, frankly, more annoying than frightening. With how the plot shakes out in the end, Daryl Booth actually becomes a pretty tangential cog in this machine, particularly when he keeps getting knocked out and restrained. 

If there’s any reason to see Flight Risk through until the overblown finale, it is actually for Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace. Admirably committed to this B-movie material, Dockery gets to be the stoic one in charge, and Grace is surprisingly still likable even when his Winston is such a talkative worrywart. 

Congratulations to January for releasing a not-bad thriller that’s entertainingly lean and mean but dumber than a box of rocks. 

Rating: 2.5/5

Flight Risk is currently in theaters.

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