First things first: I am not a fan of Denzel Washington. Never really cared for any of the movies he was in as the lead. So why did I watch this? It seemed better than the other options at the time (Life of Pi, Red Dawn, Rise of the Guardians, Silver Linings Playbook and Twilight). In retrospect, I probably should have watched nothing, but I had a free ticket, so this was my choice.
(added 1/17/13: I probably should have watched Silver Linings Playbook).
I want to say that I knew what I was getting myself into with this movie; I knew it was a drama, and the only ‘action’ would be the plane crash itself. I was fine with that because the trailer made it seems as if it would be an intense movie in which Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) would have to defend himself.
I understand that when there is loss of life in something like a plane crash, people want answers as to why it happened and they especially want to hold someone accountable. And again, that’s what the direction I thought this movie was going in. Instead, what I got was a movie about a drunk that needed a line of coke to function (DW did play that part well).
For a movie that is supposed to be character driven, I really didn’t care what happened to Whip either way at the end (more on that in the spoiler section below). It’s easy to say that Whip wasn’t a character that I could relate to. What a good movie would have done, was to take an unrelatable character and make the audience care about him and his alcoholism. That did not happen in this movie.
It’s pretty sad that my favourite character in this movie was a character that only had 2 scenes that were about 5 minutes long. John Goodman had the best introduction of all characters and he was the highlight of this movie. I loved his character and I wish he was in the movie more.
A few points I just want to touch on:
-The nudity was unnecessary and it had no real purpose towards the plot at all:
1) Having a naked chick walk around a hotel room for 2 minutes does not imply any sort of relationship.
2) The guy that Nicole got heroin from was working on a porn movie and offered her a role (which was never brought up again, so why did it need to be in the movie in the first place?).
-The movie never touched on why Whip was an alcoholic (did it have something to do with his dad?).
-The movie was a lot longer than it needed to be; a lot of things could have been left out, and it wouldn’t have changed the movie in any way.
Lets just say that the plane wasn’t the only thing that crashed in this movie.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Near the end, when Whip is asked the question if he thinks that (insert flight attendants name) drank the 2 bottles of vodka, I didn’t care whether or not he told the truth. If he said yes, he thinks she drank them, I wouldn’t have cared, and I also didn’t care that he actually owned up to it and said he drank them. I felt no attachment to that character whatsoever, and that sucks for the movie considering it had over 2 hours for it to convince me that I want to be on Whip’s side and care about his well-being.
The part in which the door to the adjacent room in Whip's hotel was somehow unlocked/open was never explained. And there would never be that much alcohol in a mini bar. I couldn't tell if it was a set-up or something totally random and by chance.
I think that the very last scene with Whip and his son was overkill. I think it should have ended after Whip’s spiel to other inmates at the AA meeting (which was pretty cheesy: “even though I’m behind bars, I feel free”).
Is it not a bit weird that a black man that is considered a ‘hero’ still ends up in prison?
-The movie never touched on why Whip was an alcoholic (did it have something to do with his dad?).
-The movie was a lot longer than it needed to be; a lot of things could have been left out, and it wouldn’t have changed the movie in any way.
Lets just say that the plane wasn’t the only thing that crashed in this movie.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Near the end, when Whip is asked the question if he thinks that (insert flight attendants name) drank the 2 bottles of vodka, I didn’t care whether or not he told the truth. If he said yes, he thinks she drank them, I wouldn’t have cared, and I also didn’t care that he actually owned up to it and said he drank them. I felt no attachment to that character whatsoever, and that sucks for the movie considering it had over 2 hours for it to convince me that I want to be on Whip’s side and care about his well-being.
The part in which the door to the adjacent room in Whip's hotel was somehow unlocked/open was never explained. And there would never be that much alcohol in a mini bar. I couldn't tell if it was a set-up or something totally random and by chance.
I think that the very last scene with Whip and his son was overkill. I think it should have ended after Whip’s spiel to other inmates at the AA meeting (which was pretty cheesy: “even though I’m behind bars, I feel free”).
Is it not a bit weird that a black man that is considered a ‘hero’ still ends up in prison?
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