So far over the top, but fun, Flight Risk is a guilty pleasure. It is all about carrying a government witness across hostile terrain to testify against a mob boss when everything that could possibly go wrong does.
Madolyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) is a Deputy U.S. Marshal. She is tasked with escorting crooked, scared, chatterbox accountant turned informant Winston (Topher Grace) from Alaska to New York. For Harris, who has been a Marshal for almost eight years, it is her first field job for quite some time. That is because she had been assigned a desk job after a previous case went skewwhiff.
The problem is that this one looks like going down the same path. That’s because the pilot of the small prop plane flying Harris and a shackled Winston to Anchorage is not the real deal. Instead, he (Mark Wahlberg) is a former prisoner, a hitman the mob boss has engaged to ensure Winston never makes it to court. He is cocky and very dangerous.
Further, it becomes a question of who agent Harris can trust and whether she and Winston can get out of their invidious predicament alive. Most of the action takes place in the sky, from where, more than once, the plane looks like crashing, resulting in a fiery end for all. Oh boy, is this corny and preposterous, but – and fortunately there is a but – the death-defying action is what saves it.
The screenplay for the comedic thriller is the work of first-time writer Jared Rosenberg. It was sitting on the Black List of most likely material yet produced for four years before director Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge) picked it up. And, despite the clunky dialogue and questionable acting, it is entertaining.
Topher Grace is deliberately irritating with his non-stop patter. Mark Wahlberg milks a wide-eyed, deranged persona for all it is worth and then some. It’s his eyes that make it so. Michelle Dockery assumes the role of the flawed heroine with determination and drive. Often, it is the discombobulated voices on the satellite phone, which her character Harris has with her, that appear particularly wooden.
Flight Risk is no Con Air (1997). Rather, it is likely to extract more than a few groans as well as the odd chuckle, but I remained alert to the next twist. Mel Gibson is intent on playing along and playing it all up. Given the ludicrous material, it was the right approach.
Score: 6/10
Alex First
Here are Greg King’s thoughts about the film:
There have been plenty of thrillers set on board a plane – from the star-studded Airport series of disaster movies (which were successfully parodied by the Zucker Brothers in the classic comedy Flying High) through to films including Air Force One, the serial killer on a plane with Red Eye, Flight Plan with Jodie Foster, Executive Decision with Kurt Russell and Non-Stop, with Liam Neeson as a beleaguered air marshal. And now we can add to that list Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk. And while it may have been released into cinemas without much by way of publicity, it is something of a guilty pleasure.
Flight Risk is the debut feature written by Jared Rosenberg. It has been on Hollywood’s Black List of the best unproduced scripts for a couple of years. The concept is pretty simple and seemingly straight forward. Gibson steps back into the director’s chair for the first time since 2018’s Hacksaw Ridge. His direction is muscular and he brings plenty of claustrophobic tension to the confined setting. Cinematographer Johnny Derango does a good job with the visuals and he captures the stark Alaskan wilderness, although on a couple of occasions the green screen/CGI created backdrop is obvious.
Unlike most of his other films, such as The Passion Of The Christ and Apocalypto, which were ambitious and epic in scope and scale, Flight Risk is lean and pacy. At a tight 91 minutes, it is also the shortest film he has directed. Wahlberg chews the scenery as the unhinged Daryl; he has even shaved his head, which adds to his menacing demeanour. Grace provide the comic relief with his quips and one-liners, and he gives Winston a nervous energy. Dockery, who played a feisty air hostess in Non-Stop, brings a resilient and determined quality to her performance.
With both Flight Path and his recent role as a grizzled ex-cop investigating a series of missing children in Monster Summer, Gibson seems to be enjoying something of a purple patch and a mini-comeback.
Score: 6/10
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- Daddy’s Home 2 – movie review
- Father Stu – movie review
- Spenser Confidential (Netflix) – movie review

Alex First is the editor of The Blurb. Alex is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He also contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.