Flight Risk, 2025.
Directed by Mel Gibson.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, Topher Grace, Paul Ben-Victor, Monib Abhat, Leah Remini, Maaz Ali, Eilise Patton, Senor Pablo, Savanah Joeckel, Mark ‘Cowboy’ Schotz, and Milko Kadikov.
SYNOPSIS:
A pilot transports an Air Marshal accompanying a fugitive to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.
It’s tough to tell if director Mel Gibson is in on the joke with Flight Risk. Coming from a screenplay by Jared Rosenberg, the initial answer to that question would be yes, given the utterly unhinged redneck performance from a bald-capped Mark Wahlberg as a wacky Depeche Mode-singing pilot before turning sociopathic once his character’s true identity is exposed.
There is also a criminal accountant in captivity, Winston, played by Topher Grace, who puts on his sarcastic routine, kicks, shrieks, and whines like he is back on That 70s Show. Disgraced U.S. Marshal Madolyn (Michelle Dockery) has been instructed by her off-screen superior (voiced by Leah Remini, not to be confused with The King of Queens sitcom star of the same name) to bring him aboard a charter plane that will fly them out of Alaska and back into civilization to prepare Winston to testify against his crime boss in exchange for lenient sentencing. Mark Wahlberg’s Daryl is that pilot, and there is a convincing, unsettling vibe to his weaponization of southern niceties while reassuring that, even when the navigation system malfunctions, everything is on track and they will be safe.
Flight Risk is implausible nonsense, and the characters constantly make questionable decisions, or something contrived happens to tip the scales regarding who has the upper hand. Still, in the first act, the film is at least leaning into that and eliciting laughter. If Mark Wahlberg says this is some of the most fun he has ever had acting before, yes, it would feel like the usual positive PR spin, but there would also be something to that, given the absurd nature of the character. Again, this is a character who breaks into singing Depeche Mode songs, threatens to give Topher Grace a titty twister, revels in being a sleazy slime bag to Michelle Dockery, and is a psychopath who doesn’t care if he lives or survives this ordeal when he ends up discovered to be in cahoots with Winston’s offscreen crime boss and is subsequently tied up.
That’s also when problems arise for Flight Risk. It either leaves Daryl unconscious or awake and restricted, with nothing to say or do. During that middle stretch, Mel Gibson starts exploring the clichéd backstories of Madolyn and Winston, playing it up for awkward melodrama that doesn’t fit the otherwise ludicrous tone. It’s as if Mel Gibson loses the plot on what kind of movie this should be. The film also weaves in a mystery element regarding a mole within the US government that doesn’t result in as subversive a twist as it seems to believe it’s going for. There is a general lack of surprise and excitement for an otherwise crackerjack single-location premise.
Ridiculous bald cap and low-budget visual effects aside, Mel Gibson is still a competent craftsman, coming across as more in his element once the third-act thrills take over. However, even then, it’s all too much of a short burst and not a sustained intensity. In some elements, the film is grounded in reality, and in others, not so much, which makes for an often confounding experience. In addition to unsuccessfully shifting modes, there is much stalling in the second act.
Flight Risk is halfway there toward being a schlocky, dumb-fun recommendation (for those who can separate Mel Gibson’s personal life from movies.) It has a somewhat fierce turn from Michelle Dockery while intriguingly shading in some moral unpleasantness to everyone, including the proverbial good guys. This may not be the nosediving tailspin for Mel Gibson’s career some expect or were hoping it to be, but there is also no getting around that it is a steep drop in quality and indisputably his worst directorial effort. It just also happens to be worth watching alone for whatever the hell Mark Wahlberg is doing.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
