REVIEW: “Flight Risk” (2025)


WRITER’S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on January 31, 2025. 

Mel Gibson has only directed six feature films in his long career, most of them epic and/or historical sagas. His latest—a chilling, high-concept, suspense-thriller starring Mark Wahlberg as a hitman who intercepts a cargo plane, carrying an Air Marshall and a talkative court-case witness—clocks in at 90 minutes, and is, up front, not Gibson’s best directing effort. 

Shot in 22 days, Flight Risk features thin characterizations and lazy writing, as if made in the 1970s or 80s (which may appeal to audiences of those eras). Its humor also borders on the absurd, especially when Dockery’s determined officer Madelyn gets air support from a flirty Pakistani agent. But it’s Walhberg “Daryl” who is, ironically, the most lively and menacing thing onscreen, complete with a creepy bald cut, a fake Southern accent, and a dark and sickening sense of humor. (Remember his high school stalker in Fear?) 

Gibson and his small cast (rounded out by Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace) make the most of the film’s primary plane setting, utilizing effective blocking and engrossing cat-and-mouse dynamics that slowly reveal secrets about each character. This aspect of emotional tension is where the movie really works (and could’ve benefited more from), echoing a classic, one-location Alfred Hitchcock thriller (like Rope or Lifeboat). It also sort of reminded me of Michael Bay’s recent flick, Ambulance, which combined intense action and drama with ridiculous humor sprinkled throughout. Not to mention exposition told in linear structure, with the story opening right into action. Plus, Gibson certainly still knows how to direct action and intensity (I didn’t known his company Icon Productions was still operating), as the plot focuses not only on Madelyn and Grace’s Winston landing the plane safely, but also testifying against a crime family. Truth versus corruption, in that regard. 

Flight Risk comes with no pretense of prestige or high-quality filmmaking. To be fair, its sound design (headed by Kami Asgar), and its score by Antonio Pinto are tense; its climax is undoubtedly gripping; and its themes of past sins and trust issues, guilt and regrets, and taking the easy road in life, are thought-provoking to a small degree. Nevertheless, this is merely an escapist action romp, but with enough harsh content (and then some) to justify its R-rating—and targeted demographic. Beyond numerous moments of bloody violence (including knives, handcuffs, fist fights, gun blasts, and tasers), my biggest problem with this movie is how mindlessly foul it is. And that’s a risk more general and discerning viewers shouldn’t be willing to take. 

#filmfreeq #bekerianreviews #21stcenturycinema #lionsgate #davidentertainment #iconproductions #melgibson #flightrisk2025

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