After riding train after train and whatnot, Denzel Washington is back navigating giant hunks of careening metal in Robert Zemeckis's Flight, which marks the director's return to live-action filmmaking after a decade spent trying (in vain, IMO) to conquer the uncanny valley. So how well do director and star succeed in piquing your interest in a movie about an airline pilot (Washington) who saves a plane full of passengers only to have his heroism — and drinking habits — come under scrutiny in the aftermath?
Below, watch the first trailer for Flight, which boasts a stellar cast surrounding Washington that includes Bruce Greenwood, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, and Melissa Leo. It's not all that revealing, which is a good thing in this age of spoiler-happy marketing, though there's potential for some big unknown twist to rock us to our core in the last act.
So what's there to look forward to? Washington as a normal dude trying to figure it out, I suppose — or as a hero hiding some dark secret, which would be more interesting — and, of course, the sight of Denzel rolling a freaking airplane on top of some houses, or whatever. That should be enough for me. And yet... I'm just lukewarm on Flight. Is there any reason to see it besides the fact that it's Denzel being Denzel and Zemeckis maybe-recapturing the knack for storytelling on display in his best live-action hits?
Head to Apple for the trailer premiere.
Then again, I am about to get on a flight tomorrow morning, so forgive me if I'm not too juiced for a movie about the one airplane that falls apart in the sky for no good reason.
Flight synopsis:
In this action-packed mystery thriller, Academy Award winner Denzel Washington stars as Whip Whitaker, a seasoned airline pilot who miraculously crash-lands his plane after a mid-air catastrophe, saving nearly every soul on board. After the crash, Whip is hailed as a hero, but as more is learned, more questions than answers arise as to who or what was really at fault, and what really happened on that plane?
Flight is in theaters November 2.
[via Apple]