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In Plane Sight

The press notes for the movie "Flight" - about a heroic pilot who's also a raging alcoholic - make a point of saying that the script, by John Gatins ("Real Steel"), was in development long before the "Miracle on the Hudson" took place. And, to be fair, there are only a few true similarities between the events in the film and those in New York City. Still, Captain "Sully" Sullenberger probably shouldn't see this movie.

The opening of the film plays like a game of "Name That Vice" with Denzel Washington embracing his bad boy side in a way he hasn't done since "Training Day". He drinks, he smokes, he snorts, he fights with his ex-wife, he's estranged from his son ... and he's a pilot! That's all in the first ten minutes.

Soon, Mr. Washington's "Whip" Whitaker (again, years before Sully) is getting into the cockpit of a plane bound for Atlanta. After a turbulent take-off (in the kind of storm in which I have never been cleared to depart), Whip levels off the plane and settles into a quick alcohol-fueled nap. Upon descent, the plane suffers some kind of massive equipment failure and Whip springs into action, landing the plane miraculously in a death-defying feat of flying.

The rest of the film revolves around the subsequent investigation of the crash and whether Whip's condition was a factor. There's also an exceedingly convenient love story involving a photogenic photographer (Kelly Reilly) who's struggling with heroin addiction.

It's hard to understand why Robert Zemeckis chose "Flight" as his return to live-action filmmaking. It's possible it had to do with the opportunity to film the opening plane crash, which is a bravura sequence - complete with a 180-degree inverted set - that makes the director's plane crash sequence from "Cast Away" seem tame. Afterward, though, the film stumbles into the kind of familiar territory you'd think would be dull to the director of "Forrest Gump".

It would be too easy to say that Mr. Zemeckis' transition from animated 3D to live-action features one-dimensional characters. And it's not true; the high caliber cast give it their all. In particular, Ms. Reilly and the always-welcome Bruce Greenwood. At the center of it all is Mr. Washington who sometimes likes to choose roles where he can make big closing statements ("John Q", "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3") as he does here.

But like the airliner in the film, "Flight" is doomed from the start. The script, though clearly well-intentioned and well-researched, has little new to say. And after an exciting take-off and some tender, post-traumatic moments, the film starts its inevitable - and overlong - decline. Where it eventually lands feels like somewhere you've been before.