The first 30 minutes of this film was superbly thrilling and exciting but then it sadly tail-spinned into a schmaltzy Hollywood tale of self-redemption. I guess it is not surprising from the man that brought you Forrest Gump and Cast Away, but this film lacked any edge. It was as if the plane crash was irrelevant to the plot as the majority of the tale was about a man battling his addiction. What could have been an opportunity to make an interesting film (perhaps the narcotics in his system actually saved that plane?) was squandered. I was much more interested in the causes of the plane crash and the investigation. Denzel's performance pulls this film out of a complete nose-dive. It could've been far worse...Tom Hanks might have played the pilot.
This film cruises at a comfortable altitude of mediocrity.
4/10
DM - we are agreeing far to often. spot on first 30 mins thrilling and then the really interesting question - whether his addiction made him a better pilot - totally ignored for some tiresome 'personal journey' with the most unbelievable love match since Roger Moore chased and bedded Grace Jones via a Duran Duran accompanied scamper up the Eiffel Tower and evangelical Christians straight out of the top drawer central casting. And then the ending - farcical and vomit inducing in one hit. By the time it finished I was praying...that I'd been one of the passengers that hadn't made it.
ReplyDelete3/10 (for the plane crash)