FLIGHT RISK

(director: Mel Gibson; screenwriter: Jared Rosenberg; cinematographer: Johnny Derango; editor: Steven Rosenblum; music: Antonio Pinto; cast: Topher Grace (Winston), Mark Wahlberg (Daryl Booth), Michelle Dockery (U.S. Marshal, Madolyn), Leah Remini (Van Sant), Monib Abhat (Hasan), Paul Ben-Victor (Coleridge), Maaz Ali (voice-Hasan), Eilise Patton (Janine), Senor Pablo (Bush Pilot), Savanah Joeckel (Rescue Worker#1), Mark ‘Cowboy’ Schotz (Rescue Worker#2), Milko Kadikov (Milko D’Killa); Runtime: 91; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Bruce Davey, John Davis, John Fox, Mel Gibson; Lionsgate; 2025)

“So absurd it lacks credibility.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Uninspiring action thriller imperviously directed by Mel Gibson (“The Passion of Christ: Resurrection”/”Hacksaw Ridge”), in his first directorial stint since 2016. It’s brazenly written with clunky dialogue by Jared Rosenberg. Though entertaining, it’s so absurd it lacks credibility.

The story revolves around a U.S. Marshall, Madloyn (Michelle Dockery), her mob-connected accountant witness Winston (Topher Grace), and a hit man, Daryl (Mark Wahlberg), acting as the pilot, on a small Cessna cargo plane headed to Anchorage, Alaska, that’s taking off from where the fugitive witness was caught in his Alaskan hide-out. Winston will be granted immunity for his testimony by the government.

The bald pilot speaks with a heavy Southern drawl, and when he reveals his hit man identity and tussles with the Deputy Marshall, she subdues him by using the taser.

It becomes a problem when they realize he’s the only one who can fly the plane, as he wisecracks “Quite the pickle, isn’t it?”

With no radio communications because they’re in the area of mountains, the Marshall uses instead her satellite phone to call her boss (voice-Leah Remini). She connects her with the pilot Hasan (voice-Maaz Ali), a sleaze who instructs her on how to fly the plane while annoyingly flirting with her.

This is Wahlberg’s first turn as a villain since he did it in 1996’s Fear, and he gives an enjoyable over the top performance. Michelle Dockery delivers convincingly as the heroine. While Topher Grace provides some laughs as the nervous passenger. But the film was too silly to take seriously and was not funny enough to be a comedy.

REVIEWED ON 1/28/2025  GRADE: C+
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