“Flight” is less a movie about a plane crash, as you’ve been
led to believe, than it is about a man facing off with his own personal demons.
In this story those demons take the form of a severe battle with alcoholism. At
its best, “Flight” resembles a cleaned up version of “Leaving Las Vegas” with
airplanes. At the other end of the spectrum, the film is like a
made-for-television cautionary tale about the evils of drink and excess, one
that is just a little too clean, a little too easy and rosy-cheeked to ever truly
get to the point it sets out to make. What keeps “Flight” from devolving into a
full-fledged Lifetime melodrama are a strong beginning and Denzel Washington’s
performance.
