4K Review | Flight Risk (Ultra HD 4K Blu-ray)

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Plot: What’s it about?Video: How’s it look?Audio: How’s it sound?Supplements: What are the extras?The Bottom Line

Plot: What’s it about?

In my time running this site I’ve seen a lot of films. I’m talking thousands. There have been great ones and some that I’d like to forget. I won’t say that Flight Risk is the worst movie I’ve seen, but it’s near the bottom. But I’ll do the filmmakers the courtesy of at least saying why. I’ll also preface this by saying that I had no idea who directed it (Mel Gibson) until the end credits rolled. I actually said to myself “that Mel Gibson?” Yes, I talk to myself when I watch movies alone. Bear in mind that this man has been entertaining us for decades and even has a Best Picture and Best Director Academy Award to his credit. But good actors appear in bad films and good directors make bad films. In this instance we’ve got both. How lucky for us.

Winston (Topher Grace) is an accountant for a well-known mob boss. He’s been apprehended in remote Alaska and is being transported back to testify. U.S. Marshal Madolyn (Michelle Dockery) is his point of contact. They’re loaded on a plane with Daryl (Mark Wahlberg) as their pilot and it’s not long after they take off that things go awry. When it becomes evident that Daryl is there to kill Winston, Madolyn takes matters into her own hands. Daryl, the only person who can pilot the aircraft, is incapacitated and left only to make threats while Madolyn tries to figure out how to fly/land it. To complicate matters she learns that there’s a mole in her organization (U.S. Marshals) and that there’s seemingly no one she can trust. This begs the question: even if they’re able to land the plane – what next?

To be clear, I went into this film wanting to like it. The only thing I’d heard about it was that Wahlberg was set to play the villain, a role he hasn’t done since his foray into movies with 1996’s Fear. And, for a few minutes, the film works. But with its limited running time (91 minutes), non-connecting plot points and cartoonish characters it just derailed (or rather veered off course) very quickly. The three leads are certainly competent actors as is Gibson as a director. I just don’t know what happened with this one and the more I think about it, the angrier I get. If you take it with a grain of salt, you might enjoy it though I felt it might be best-served as some 90’s action/thriller movie…made for TV.

Video: How’s it look?

Considering that 95% of the movie takes place in an “airplane” (I use that in quotes as it was just a set piece with a huge LED monitor in front of them, it’s hard to say that the breathtaking beauty of Alaska is featured. It’s not. Early on there’s a scene of a moose that’s about to break into a hotel room. The CGI is so bad, it looks like it’s out of a PS3 (yes, 3) game. That being said, the 2.39:1 HEVC 4K image isn’t exactly bad. Evidently Wahlberg went full method and actually did shave part of his head (in spite of wearing a hat early on with a hairpiece, so that’s one of many things I’m trying to figure out). So if you’ve ever wanted to see Mark Wahlberg with male pattern baldness – here’s your chance. Detail is top notch and while there isn’t a whole lot of color in the film, I found the general ambiance to be somewhat pleasing.

Audio: How’s it sound?

One could make a drinking game out of Wahlberg’s dialogue. Take a shot every time he says “Hey, do you know what I’m going to do to you?” But I digress. Other than the vocals, there’s really not a lot to report on the audio front. I will say that the plane landing (oops, spoiler alert) does sound pretty good, but at that point I was so ready for the movie to be over, I really didn’t care. We’re treated to propeller noise throughout (think Airplane!) as well. It’s kind of an opportunity missed for this Dolby Atmos track. Then again so was the entire film.

Supplements: What are the extras?

Risk Management: Making Flight Risk – This eight minute feature is essentially the only “real” supplement we get. We start off with writer Jared Rosenberg as he regales us with the etymology of the project which he wrote during Covid. We also get some sound bytes from Gibson and the like.
Theatrical Trailer

The Bottom Line

I…don’t get it. You’ve got three seasoned actors with Mark Wahlberg, Topher Grace and Michelle Dockery (and count Director Mel Gibson among those, too) as well as a Director who’s helmed several movies and has a Best Director Oscar to his credit and they turn out…this. You’d have to assume that one of them would have spoken up a few days into the shoot and said “What the hell are we doing?” That didn’t happen. Having said that, the disc looks good and sounds…OK and there’s really only one supplement. If this movie is your thing, I kind of feel sorry for you. I might donate this one to my local library.