After it was difficult for him to gain a foothold in the Hollywood business due to racist, anti-Semitic and misogynistic attacks, the two-time Oscar winner Mel Gibson has now managed to regain the favor of audiences and investors to some extent. When asked about his sixth feature directorial effort after “The Man Without a Face,” “Braveheart,” “The Passion of the Christ,” “Apocalypto” and “Hacksaw Ridge,” two titles in particular have been discussed in recent years: “Lethal Weapon 5” and “The Passion of Christ 2”. Instead of a blockbuster sequel, it has now become a more modest project, which is evident from the fact that Mel Gibson appeared during the US press tour for “Flight Risk“was asked primarily about the status of his other projects.
In fact, Gibson completed the work on his action thriller, which is enriched with a pleasing amount of black humor, within a few weeks with a small number of staff in front of and behind the camera, which is why it could easily give the impression that it was a spontaneous exercise in a filmography that was otherwise consists predominantly of mammoth works. But even if this point of view cannot be completely dismissed, “Flight Risk” never gets boring despite its weaknesses and is definitely fun. Fans of Mark Wahlberg in particular should have fun, after all the superstar not only appears half-bald here for the first time, but also plays a role that is very unusual for him.

We've never seen Mark Wahlberg like he did in “Flight Risk” – and that also applies to his hairstyle as soon as he takes off his cap.
US Marshal Madelyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) is traveling through the almost deserted vastness of Alaska to collect the fugitive mafia accountant Winston (Topher Grace) and bring him back to New York City. There he is supposed to testify as a key witness against his former employer. The terribly nervous Winston had gone into hiding in the freezing cold state because he feared he would be murdered by the Don's henchmen.
After the intended pilot was canceled at short notice, a man named Daryl Booth (Mark Wahlberg) offers to step in with his propeller-driven Cessna 208B cargo plane. With the court date approaching inexorably and her superiors putting pressure on her, Harris reluctantly agrees. The trio hasn't been in the air for long before they bitterly regret this decision: Daryl is not only just as tireless a chatterbox as Winston, he's also not who he pretended to be…
In a confined space
For more than 90 percent of the running time, the three main characters are in the air in a cramped, rickety airplane. They have nowhere to go and any careless or wrong action would mean certain death. The audience is on board with them throughout. Because we only hear indirectly about everything that happens at the same time at the flight's destination and in New York City through the conversations that Marshal Harris has on a satellite phone that doesn't work particularly reliably.
All three stars can always see how much fun they have in the very compressed production: Gibson's friend Wahlberg in particular, who played the director's son in the slapstick comedy “Daddy's Home 2”, clearly enjoys playing a role that is much more morally ambivalent . So far he was only allowed to play a real villain in “Fear – When Love Makes You Fear”, and that was at the very beginning of his acting career, namely in 1996, when he was still primarily known as an underpants model, dancer and rapper.

Madelyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) bitterly regrets getting on the plane with this pilot of all people.
Thanks to the humorous appearance of Mark Wahlberg and Topher Grace (“The Roaring Seventies”), the whole thing remains entertaining until the end. Only “Downton Abbey” star Michelle Dockery has a bit of bad luck with her figure. Your US Marshal may serve as an identification figure for the audience, but remains largely passive. The law enforcement officer can and must only react to the problems caused by the two men next to and behind her on the plane. That's a little ungrateful, because it leaves her figure pretty pale in comparison.
Visually, “Flight Risk,” whose ambiguous pun title can be translated as “flight risk” and “escape risk,” is also convincing. Similar to last year's “Daddio”, which took place almost entirely in a taxi, “Flight Risk” was also shot almost entirely in a studio equipped with gigantic LED screens. This saves you the need for green screens and allows you to project the desired backgrounds live. The result is actually deceptively real, so that you actually get the impression that you are flying over the beautiful, but also very rough and dangerous Alaska range the whole time.
More of a twist too much than too little
Shortly before the end there is a big action set piece. Despite the competent implementation, this somehow seems out of place and like it was borrowed from another film after the claustrophobic 80 minutes before. Otherwise, Gibson, his screenwriter Jared Rosenberg (“Money For Nothing: Inside The Federal Reserve”) and editor Steven Rosenblum (“Braveheart”) have overall found a good balance between action and drama, tension and pitch-black comedy.
Maybe they should have even left out a few of the twists that seemed far-fetched at times. The final twist, for example, was definitely not needed. And not only because it is announced rather clumsily long ago, but also because the story has actually long since been told at this point. At least the final punch is presented in a pulpy, entertaining and fast-paced way – just like the entire film.
Conclusion: A few less exaggerated twists and this otherwise successful mix of thrill and fun would have been really good. Above all, thanks to Mark Wahlberg's joyful play against his good-guy image, the film is still entertaining throughout.