Flight Risk comes from the director of Braveheart, Apocalypto, and Hacksaw Ridge (we all know it’s you, Mel Gibson. The poster won’t fool us into believing this is any good). This apparently come from a screenplay in 2020 that was voted as the year’s “Black List” of the most-liked unproduced screenplays in Hollywood (lol okay). The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, and Topher Grace. The plot follows a polit transporting a U.S. Marshal and a witness, where the intentions of everyone on board comes into question. Or, if you saw the trailer, then you basically know everything that happens.

If you’re interested in watching this, I don’t blame you at all. Wahlberg hasn’t been good in anything in who knows how long and Gibson has been met with much controversy for as long as I can remember. Yet, there was still some sort of promise in a film that looked to just be fun. Instead, it’s a film that is much worse that you could ever imagine with only Wahlberg’s presence being the film’s smallest saving grace.

The film’s true major characters are played by Dockery, the U.S. Marshall, and Grace, the witness. The film opens up on a terrible green screen where we are meant to believe Grace is hiding out in. That should have been a bad omen of what the rest of the film’s visuals were going to be. We are immediately thrown into Grace’s character being caught by Dockery. These opening minutes offer some of the worst dialogue and direction I have seen in some time. It’s January, so I suppose dumping it here was fitting. Both characters act like caricatures of themselves. Grace is annoying from start to finish. Dockery is there trying to save the film as the film is really about her more than anyone else.

Wahlberg shows up and we immediately know where the film is going to go from there, because trailers give too much away these days. The time it takes for Wahlberg’s character to finally reveal his true intentions. Way too much unbelievable setup. I couldn’t care less of what happened next. Grace continues to be annoying with some of the weirdest actions. It’s like he’s trying to be in an 80’s film, which might have been fitting since Gibson directed it. Why Wahlberg didn’t just take these two out immediately is beyond me.

By the time he reveals his true intentions, he’s tied up for nearly the rest of the movie save for a few times he gets out and tries to attack the heroes. Someone said that he probably has about 15 minutes of screentime and that couldn’t be anymore from the truth. Wahlberg’s choices in film as of lately has been truly baffling. I thought it was just his straight-to-streaming movies, but that’s not the case. Since he spends so much time tied up, what’s the point of the movie, you ask? There is none.

The film’s primary objective is to have this be about Dockery’s character. At the mid-point, it’s revealed that she accidentally got her last witness killed. Grace is shocked at this news as this should be relevant at all. Once again, who cares? Oh, right, it’s to give Dockery the missing characterization she was needing to begin with. Her character manages to escape death a few times by flying the plane. Then, she needs help from someone to fly the plane. But didn’t she already fly the plane? It makes no sense to me.

The way this film wraps up is as believable as you would think. Dockery saves the day, but wait, there’s more! She somehow knows someone new is trying to kill Grace’s character, who really is. She saves him once again! She could care less about saving this person and more about saving her own ego. About the time everything is said and done, it ends on the most baffling and questionable final shot I have ever seen.

I do want to bring up the fact that this cost $10 million. Most of the money must have gone to the cast and crew, because this looks terrible. The effects are phoned in and Gibson’s direction shows that he couldn’t care any less. In comparison, The Brutalist cost jsut as much and that movie looked much better. From a production management perspective, it’s frustrating when any sort of money is used improperly in any movie. There are filmmakers who would love to have that kind of money to deliver something good. The film is already opening to a $4.4 million box office, which is modest, but it’s not warranting a box office return. There are big names attached to this who are capitalizing on their names, instead of caring enough to deliver something worthwhile.

Overall, Flight Risk might be exactly what it sets itself out to be for any moviegoer, even if it’s far worse than it has any right to be. Mark Wahlberg is perfectly fine as he has shown in the past in an antagonist role. The film’s flaws stems from the terrible dialogue, little to no characterization, and awful effects. Five minutes in, I was ready to give up. This film serves literally no purpose even when its trying to be fun. If you are looking for something more fun with an evil Mark Wahlberg, I’d recommend watching Fear.

Overall: 1/5 (Terrible)