Flight

First Hit:  Exciting beginning with amazing scenes of the flight and crash.

This film uses a very taut elongated scene of a plane crash made both believable and unbelievable because the opening scene of pilot Whip Whitaker (played by Denzel Washington) finishing up a wild night of sex and drugs with his co-worker flight attendant Katerina (played by Nadine Velazquez) just before they get on the plane to fly it from Florida to Georgia.

A couple lines of coke, a couple mini bottles of vodka and he’s on his way. At take-off he scares his Christian co-pilot Ken (played by Brian Geraghty) by flying through a hug storm and when he gets to clear air he hands the plane over to him while falling asleep in a comical pose.

When the plane, all of a sudden, heads into a full dive, Whip wakes up and takes charge. Amazingly he figures out to keep the plane from diving straight into the ground by going inverted and just before they hit an open field he’s aimed for, he flips the plan upright and out of the 102 passengers and crew all but six make it.

The film's other story is about Nicole (played by Kelly Reilly), a long suffering drug using masseuse. She ends up in a hospital from OD’ing after shooting up some powerful heroin. She meets Whip when they are both in the hospital and there is a connection.

Here is where the film gets interesting because when they are both on the screen, it isn’t Whip I’m watching – it’s Nicole. There is an amazing strength and vulnerability Nicole shows which not only draws in Whip, it entices the audience. When both are fighting their inner demons about ready to do their drug of choice, it is Nicole that my heart wanted to help. Nicole choses to get sober and although she tries to assist Whip, he’s not ready.

When the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) investigates, they are suspicious about Whip and his being drunk. In the decision scene, the audience wonders will he save his ass or will he own the truth.

Washington is excellent as Whip, a very functional alcoholic and commercial pilot. The scenes where he’s in his uniform, walking down a hall with his sunglasses on says it all, I’m in control as long as you can’t really see me. Velazquez is good as his current squeeze and attendant who saves a young boy. Reilly, is superb and steals every scene she is in. Geraghty is great as a his Christian co-pilot. Bruce Greenwood is very good as Whip’s old pilot friend and head of the pilot’s union. John Goodman is oddly and interestingly cast as Whip’s old hippy like personal drug dealer. Don Cheadle is strong as Hugh Lang the Pilot’s Union lawyer. John Gatins wrote a great and interesting script. Robert Zemeckis directed this film in a very tight focused way.

Overall: This was a very good film and worth the ride of watching the highs and lows of a man’s life.

Real Steel

First Hit:  This was a fully entertaining and enjoyable film.

Yes it is much like “The Champ” in more ways than one, but so what – this film was very enjoyable.

Charlie Kenton (played by Hugh Jackman) is a washed-up boxer, who had one glorifying moment in the ring. He’s a loner traveling around in HI truck lugging robots around who fight bulls and other robots for money. He’s clearly a “live for the moment guy” looking to make a large score so that he can pay off some guys he owes money to.

But we all know in the first 10 minutes, even if he makes a large score, he’ll be back to where he is because he doesn’t plan or think ahead. One day he is served with papers that his son Max (played by Dakota Goyo), who he saw once as a baby, has lost his mother and that he has custody or has to sign over custody to the boy’s aunt. He sees this as an angle to get money and as the boy clearly tells him, “you sold me for $50K”.

The boy has to spend some time with his father before custody is handed over and we all know what happens next; Max and Charlie are alike in many ways and each learns and grows by being with the other.

There is very little that is not predictable in this film but there is nothing about this film that isn’t genuinely entertaining. The relationship between Charlie and Bailey Tallet (played by Evangeline Lilly) who’s father trained Charlie as a boxer is clearly believable. The relationship between Max and Bailey is wonderful, especially when she shows him clippings of his father boxing.

Although I thought the Tak Mashido and Farra Lemkova characters were a bit overdone there was little I didn’t like.

Jackman is perfect as the guy who cares, doesn’t care, thinks, doesn’t think, and has the physical attributes to pull off this role. He was great. Goyo was, to me, the star of this picture. He shows grace, talent and a command of the role that was wonderful. Lilly, was good as the woman waiting for her love to realize it. John Gatins and Dan Gilroy philosophically borrowed strongly from “The Champ” but they made it their own as well. Shawn Levy clearly knows how to make an entertaining film.

Overall: Although there is not real big meaningful message here, this film was simply a joy to watch.