Fight or Flight Movie Review: A Hollow, Albeit Slickly Made Bottle-Actioner

 

On the surface, a movie like Flight or Flight reads more like an improvised concoction of tidbits from other successful action films than a piece of its own. Josh Hartnett in manic, violent mode a la Cooper Trap (we’ll call that character by that name for now) was loved by audiences last summer. Bubble action films, especially on transit, like 2022’s Bullet Train. Does it feel like that in practice? Sort of. It definitely doesn’t feel like a uniform movie, but some of those individual pieces work in much more impressive ways than others. 

The idea here is simple. Josh Hartnett is a drunken, desperate mercenary roped into a job - tracking a man with a dangerous, high value object only known to the audience as “The Ghost” - on a commercial flight. That process is interrupted when we discover there are men who are looking to kill each of them with separate intentions and motives. These two men from opposite sides of the coin have to do what’s right - kill every last one of them. On the plane. While it’s in motion. 

There’s really only one thing that doesn’t work here, but it’s pretty significant - the narrative is a clustered mess. Not only does it feel super bloated, but it feels like it’s treated like filler within the film. Our performers are delivering dialogue related to the plot as if it’s a chore. It feels like the point gets lost every time our characters are discussing their individual missions. There’s a reduction of stakes that comes with it, which definitely doesn’t help. Although you likely already knew it, this fully requires you to leave any desire to digest the narrative at the theatre door. If you want your action to have purpose, this might be a skip. Our one innocent performer is unsurprisingly Hartnett. He knows how to ham it up to the perfect extent - just enough to turn muddled dialogue easily compelling. Those who were pleased to see him unlock this new niche in M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap will be pleased to see him take on that kind of performance once again.

Where this film really shines to an impressive extent is its fight choreography and the way the rest of the craft team works around it. Our fight & stunt coordination team comes from a catalog of work including Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning and Atomic Blonde. This comes as no surprise, as select moments in this feel like a replication of those styles on a much smaller scale. The way the fights operate in this small space is incredibly impressive. The production design of the plane’s cabin is very thoughtful. The way the cinematography balances extremely close-up perspectives without getting lost within the action is more than worthy of praise.

It’s hard to give a film like this a positive rating given the pretty poor quality narrative & dialogue. Does that mean you should 100% skip this one? Not exactly. Those who aren’t fans of poorly scripted and performed pieces that are driven only by action may want to pass. However, if you’re a fan of elaborate stunt choreo and want to check this out after a couple drinks with friends on a Saturday night, you’ll have a blast. Just go in aware of what the film’s focus is. 

Rating: 4.5/10

Vertical Entertainment will release Flight or Flight in US and Canadian cinemas this Friday, May 9th. Thanks to Vertical & our friends at Route 504 PR for letting us screen this film in advance of its release!