Flight (2012)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Flight |
| Original title | Flight |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2012 |
| length | 138 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Robert Zemeckis |
| script | John Gatins |
| production |
Laurie MacDonald Walter F. Parkes Jack Rapke Steve Starkey Robert Zemeckis |
| music | Alan Silvestri |
| camera | Don Burgess |
| cut | Jeremiah O'Driscoll |
| occupation | |
| |
Flight is an American film drama from the year 2012 that the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 was inspired. Directed by Robert Zemeckis , Denzel Washington stars as pilot William "Whip" Whitaker. Flight premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 14, 2012 . It was also screened at the Austin Film Festival on October 22, 2012 and the Stockholm International Film Festival on November 13, 2012. Germany had its premiere flight on January 24, 2013.
action
The film begins at an Orlando airport hotel , where flight captain Whitaker spent the night before a flight to Atlanta with stewardess Katerina Marquez . Whitaker is an alcoholic , but he never admits it, and is prone to substance abuse . After a night of partying, he takes cocaine to get fit again and finally climbs into the cockpit of the MD-80 . His first officer Ken Evans and stewardess Margaret Thomason notice Whitaker's distressed condition, but both keep their concerns to themselves. When SouthJet flight 227 took off, the weather was bad with strong turbulence , which Whitaker dared to fly through, pushing the aircraft to its limits. After the bad weather front has flown through and the cruising altitude has been reached, he leaves the cockpit and drinks vodka unnoticed , which he secretly takes from the locked spirits compartment of the galley and mixes with his orange juice. The flight went without incident until shortly before the landing approach at the destination airport, an adjustment spindle on the horizontal stabilizer failed due to material fatigue because the part was not replaced during maintenance. Due to the damaged control of the horizontal stabilizer, the jet loses its maneuverability and falls into an uncontrolled dive . All attempts by Whitaker and Evans to bring the machine into a stable flight condition fail. Whitaker then brings the stewardess Margaret into the cockpit and assigns her to operate the thrust levers , while he and Evans perform an unusual flight maneuver: They bring the aircraft into inverted position and can thus stop the dive. After the engines fail a little later and the airport can no longer be reached, Whitaker manages to make an emergency landing on a meadow near Atlanta. Six of the 102 people on board, including Marquez, are killed.
Whitaker, who was hospitalized unconscious, is celebrated as a hero. However, when a blood test revealed that he had consumed various intoxicants before the flight, the pilot faces a life sentence . However, he is backed by the pilots' union, which can successfully challenge the toxicological report through a lawyer because the blood sample was not drawn in accordance with the regulations. Since Whitaker's co-pilot and the stewardess Margaret had noticed his intoxicated state before the flight and could bring the truth to light, he seeks both of them and can persuade them not to tell anyone about it. During this time, he still drinks excessively and without being able to control himself. At the hospital, Whitaker learns the heroin -dependent Nicole know where he falls in love. She also tries to convince him to go into withdrawal therapy. However, he continues to deny any addiction and instead argues that he himself "chooses to get drunk". It soon comes to an argument and Nicole leaves him.
In the course of the official investigation, empty vodka bottles are found in a garbage can of the aircraft wreck. Whitaker is now in danger of being exposed again, as no alcoholic beverages were served on the flight and only the crew had access to the spirits. At a hearing about what happened on board a little later, there was the opportunity to blame the dead stewardess Katerina Marquez for the consumption of vodka and thus to pull Whitaker's head out of the loop for good. Whitaker, who had previously lived with a pilot friend of his for some time and had not drank alcohol during that time, relapsed in his hotel room the night before the hearing and got drunk. On the morning of the hearing, he used cocaine to get fit again. When during the hearing about alcohol consumption on board the flight comes up, Whitaker could now lie, blame the dead Marquez and leave the hearing as a hero. At the same moment, however, he realizes that he has already lied to himself and others far too often, and makes a decision: He confesses that he had drunk on the day of the accident and the days before and that he is drunk now, when questioned, and that he was an alcoholic.
Thirteen months later, Whitaker is in jail and awaiting another four to five years in prison. He's been dry for a year now , feels "free for the first time in his life" and doesn't regret his decision. There he is visited by his now almost grown-up son, who previously avoided him because of his alcoholism and did not want any contact to ask him about an essay for the college entrance examination - subject: "The most fascinating person I have never met". The son puts the tape on record and asks his father: "So: who are you?" Whitaker thinks for a moment and answers with a smile: "That's a good question."
background
During the film from the studios Parkes + MacDonald Prods. and ImageMovers , Paramount marketed Pictures Flight on a budget of $ 31 million. In April 2011 it was announced that Robert Zemeckis would be directing; less than two months later, Denzel Washington's appearance was also confirmed. From the middle of September 2011, the further occupation was gradually confirmed. The film was filmed in locations near Atlanta, Georgia within 45 days.
The cause of the plane crash is the breakage of a spindle of the horizontal stabilizer . This and the course of the flight are reminiscent of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 . During this flight, a defect in the threaded rod of the horizontal stabilizer due to insufficient maintenance was found to be the cause.
reception
success
Flight has so far (as of January 29, 2013) grossed over 101.8 million US dollars, including over 93.4 million US dollars in the United States alone.
In 2013, 603,978 visitors were counted at the German box offices nationwide, making the film the 50th place of the most visited films of the year.
Reviews
Flight received mostly positive reviews. From 169 evaluated Rotten Tomatoes critics , 77% of the film received positive ratings. Metacritic received 76% positive ratings from 39 reviews. However, air traffic pilots criticized Flight for the fact that the film was unrealistic.
“'Flight', the action film, is almost over here after just 30 minutes, from then on it is transformed into 'Flight', the psychological study, into a justice thriller, a family drama, a romance film, even a comedy, if John Goodman made his short appearances as a Whitaker's dealer. "
“To see 'Flight' means to watch a film as it dodges all the clichés on the subject with great pride in its own artistry. This succeeds in many places with intelligence and admirable ingenuity. But it is also often annoying - especially because the film turns out to be rather easy to digest and therefore more stupid than it claims to be. "
“The master director is making a convincing comeback [after the years as a pioneer of motion capture film]. Against the background of a spectacular plane crash, the filmmaker creates a cocky, high-proof melodrama that thrives on outstanding actors, an unusual, emotionally gripping story and the directorial class of its director. "
“As is so often the case with Zemeckis, a complex and philosophically explosive field opens up, only to be dealt with in a predictable, maximally unsatisfactory way. And Denzel Washington dominates this film, in which all the other characters appear like those annoying, but sometimes dangerous geese that are now being torn apart with alcohol in the constantly hotter turbine of his dance. "
“A gripping drama that begins as a breathtaking disaster film, only to ask demanding and credible questions about personal guilt, atonement and moral integrity. In the few action scenes staged with virtuosity and intensity, the main role is multi-layered and outstanding. "
Awards
Denzel Washington was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor . John Gatins also received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Web links
- Flight in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official website for the film
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for flight . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , January 2013 (PDF; test number: 136 603 K).
- ↑ latimes.com
- ↑ latimes.com
- ↑ latimesblogs.latimes.com
- ↑ locations. Internet Movie Database , accessed May 22, 2015 .
- ↑ hollywoodreporter.com
- ↑ boxofficemojo.com
- ↑ C. Lou Lloyd: KINOaktuell: What you wanted: Münster's cinema year 2013 . In: Filminfo , No. 4, 23. – 29. January 2014, p. 24f.
- ↑ rottentomatoes.com
- ↑ metacritic.com
- ↑ thedailybeast.com
- ↑ a b Martin Wolf: Pilot with alcohol . In: Der Spiegel . No. 4 , 2013, p. 107 ( online ). Quote: "A masterpiece."
- ↑ Tim Slagman: Addicting drama "Flight". Denzel, the drunk pilot. In: Spiegel Online . January 24, 2013, accessed October 15, 2013 .
- ↑ filmstarts.de
- ↑ critic.de
- ^ Flight in the Lexicon of International Films