Mark Wahlberg breaks bad in Mel Gibson's return to the director's chair
"Flight Risk" promises a lean, mean action thriller machine in a bottleneck setting.
When the trailer first premiered online last year for Flight Risk, Mel Gibson’s first directorial effort in nine years, the signs of something different were apparent.
Mark Wahlberg, the mega movie star who occasionally dabbles in something twisted or flat out odd or unique, working a just right Southern accent as a pilot escorting an Air Marshal and her fugitive across the frozen Alaskan wilderness. A joke about passengers losing their lunch often up in the sky leads to the fugitive glancing towards the ground to see the badge of the real pilot, who looks nothing like Marky Mark.
It’s been almost 30 year since Wahlberg played a legit antagonist, one that will most likely die in the end yet go out with a master demise with a creepy wink or something. For the last few decades, he went from rocky real life waters to movie superstardom, but there’s an outside choice here and there that legitimizes his actor practice. I Heart Huckabees, The Departed, The Fighter, Boogie Nights or the Ted movies to distract us from the easygoing and digestible mainstream money-making work.
You’d have to go all the way back to 1996’s Fear, where he played Reese Witherspoon’s dangerous new boyfriend who squares off against William Petersen’s resilient dad. True 90s goodness that doesn’t get made as often these days. Thanks to Gibson, audiences get a nice dose of it this weekend.
Clocking in at a brisk 91 minutes (86 most likely before credits), it’s his first time in the director’s chair since 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge, a very well-received war movie that showcased an indelible story and revealed Andrew Garfield’s versatility to the world. Along with busting Mark Zuckerberg’s computer, he could carry a few bodies to safety. With Flight Risk, Gibson showcases some of the same tricks that highlighted movies from his movie star era. Only this time, the twist was that the known star was breaking bad.
Wahlberg isn’t alone, though. Michelle Dockery is the Air Marshal who ultimately clashes violently with the crooked pilot, who may just be a mafia-hired hitman to make sure the flight doesn’t run its course without considerable risk. Topher Grace, who must be drinking the anti-aging drug that Paul Rudd routinely consumes, is the fugitive who sits on the plane as prey for Wahlberg’s mad man.
Unlike most of his directing catalog, which is often big and epic like Passion of the Christ (which Gibson is currently developing a sequel for) or Apocalypto, Flight Risk is a one-track-minded action vehicle with a few simple ingredients to create a savory weekend dish. Maybe a warm-up for his promise to direct Lethal Weapon 5. It’s a 1990s action genre recreated for the modern day audience. Three actors in a bottleneck setting for 90 minutes with a pot boiling more and more as the characters catch onto the hillbilly pilot.
The glee in Wahlberg’s eyes as he recites repeatedly in the trailer, “y’all need a pilot” is nice to see if you’ve started to grow bored with his choices lately. He can do so much with so little, but something different like this will be fun. He even shaved his head for a few key scenes instead of wearing a bald cap. Over a billion dollars into his steady career, he’s still taking chances.
Thanks to Gibson for finding the right project to unlock it. While both men have battled their real life demons, they can come together here for some old school cinema delight.
Flight Risk opened in theaters tonight but gains a whole schedule tomorrow. Before you take in the NFC and AFC championship games on Sunday, soak in the return of Mel Gibson to the filmmaker’s chair and Mark Wahlberg to the land of bad guys.
