Critic Reviews

But when evaluated as a work of pure craftsmanship, Flight Risk is some of the finest stupidity Hollywood has gifted us in a long time.

“We should be home in about 90 minutes or so,” Wahlberg chirpily informs his passengers just before take-off. That’s the film’s pledge to its audience too: some ups, some downs, then safely into land.

Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk manages to entertain despite goofy dialogue and the equally goofy concept of a U.S. Marshal and the prisoner she’s transporting finding themselves onboard a tiny plane with a killer. The character types are familiar and the story is simple, but there’s enough panache to keep it in the air right up until its explosive ending.

Flight Risk is a fun yet simple and straightforward thriller where you have a general sense of where things are headed at first, and then Gibson pulls in a surprise or two or three.

While there are a few twists in the film, much like the certainty of a flight delay, none arrive unexpectedly.

The film is, of course, very silly, but diverting and ingenious, and contains game performances from Wahlberg, Dockery and Grace.

It won’t win any awards for originality but Flight Risk is a fun, unpretentious, tight 91 minutes — especially if you’ve always jonesed to see Downton Abbey’s Lady Mary cream someone with a fire extinguisher.

Very silly, but pulpy fun.

Truly, Flight Risk has its funny moments, though none of them are funnier than when the end credits start and you’re reminded, once again, that this movie was directed by Mel Gibson.

Over-writing doesn’t delay Flight Risk’s pace or tension; Wahlberg does. The actor ended up apologizing for his boneheaded 9/11 remarks not long after making them. Maybe one day he’ll apologize for Flight Risk, too.