‘Flight Risk’ Review: Mel Gibson Delivers Flaccid Plane Thriller

Flight Risk, the latest film from now Hollywood Ambassador to the White House Mel Gibson, is finally in theatres and after a comical trailer that leans perhaps a bit too heavily into the ulterior motives of its villain, we can discuss the picture in length. From bald Mark Wahlberg to Topher Grace’s bathroom schedule, the movie has a lot to dissect. Read our Flight Risk review below. 

Flight Risk is Mel Gibson’s sixth directed film, and his first since 2016’s heavily critically acclaimed Hacksaw Ridge. The film follows Deputy US Marshal Madolyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) as she apprehends a fugitive, Winston (Topher Grace), and transports him to Seattle to get ready to testify in a plea deal against a ruthless mob leader. Their method of transport? A small private plane, complete with a personal pilot (Mark Wahlberg). The twist? Their pilot is not the man he seems, and is instead an assassin sent to kill the marshal and witness. As a result of this premise, the film is quite isolated and features a minimal cast, leaving a lot of weight for the cast and screenplay to do heavy lifting with. 

The film, marketed using Wahlberg’s fame as an advertising vehicle, misuses Wahlberg’s acting prowess and relegates him to a supporting antagonist role, where he is left unconscious for large periods of time, over several sequences. While the film markets itself as a thriller, with Wahlberg’s unnamed assassin posing a major threat, the film instead tries to replicate the survival subgenre. It’s like if the 2022 film Fall was on the run, with a middle aged balding man lurking in the background sometimes. 

Wahlberg himself is actually quite fun, and while his character is a lot to handle with the rapey “jokes” and an old timey way of speaking, the character is threatening while conscious. He takes the literal backseat here, with Topher Grace and Michelle Dockery receiving the huge majority of the runtime. A tonal imbalance is present between the three characters, Topher Grace is quippy, but also timid, Michelle Dockery is jaded and level headed and Wahlberg does his thing. The combination keeps the film from becoming a coherent piece, but at the same time it incorporates a level of fun into the experience. While these performances are serviceable, the characters and the portrayals themselves fail to interest me as an audience member. 

A huge selling point of the trailer was the hook and movie tagline “Y’all need a pilot?”, where it’s implied that Harris must reluctantly work with Wahlberg’s psychopath to land the plane safely. To keep the review spoiler free… This doesn’t happen, and honestly was the biggest misstep in the 100 minute film. Wahlberg, who received top billing and is the only name and face on the poster, is far from the lead character and another huge disappointment suffered in the movie. 

The movie also has a subplot that concerns itself with corruption within the US Marshal service and law enforcement as a whole. Being shown to the viewer inthe form of a satellite phone call, it tries to shroud itself in mystery, but fails to do so, suffering from being predictable and just completely uninteresting, detracting from the best bits of the plane ride itself.

The movie, while being a fun time, fails to captivate you as an audience member with a predictable script, tonally imbalanced characters and less than stellar performances. While there are some good elements to be found in the movie, it’s so far the worst film I’ve seen  this year, only 24 days into the year at the time of writing. A disappointment from Gibson, but with more films on the way, it might just be a minor misstep. 

Flight Risk is directed by Mel Gibson, adapted from a Black List script by Jared Rosenberg, and stars Michelle Dockery, Topher Grace and Mark Wahlberg. The film is now playing in theatres worldwide courtesy of distribution by Lionsgate. 

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