Mel Gibson's first directorial effort since 2016 Hacksaw Ridge The new ambassador to Hollywood was found to be working on a decidedly more intimate scale than usual. The inside of a small Cessna, to be precise, which is where most of the action takes place. flight risk occur. Depicting the harrowing aerial journey of a deputy U.S. Marshall, gangster witnesses with her connections, and a pilot who becomes a killer, flight risk The film manages to deliver some high-altitude thrills throughout its breathtaking 91 minutes. But its clunky dialogue, uneven acting, and sub-A special effects ultimately make it the Spirit of Aviation thriller among aerial thrillers.

Jared Rosenberg's script is nothing if not efficient, as Deputy Marshall Madolin (Michelle Dockery) and other officers burst into a tacky Alaskan motel room. Its premise is quickly established, as gangster accountant Winston (Topher Grace) hides out there after making the mistake of stealing millions of dollars. From his boss. Soon after, Madolin escorted a shackled Winston to a single-engine plane that was in good condition for a quick flight to Anchorage, where he planned to testify in exchange for immunity.

The pilot turns out to be Daryl (Mark Wahlberg), a good boy with a Southern accent so exaggerated that it should immediately be known that he's not who he says he is. Sure enough, Daryl soon reveals his true colors (his head goes bald when his wig flies off) and nearly kills Madoline until she successfully teases and subdues him.

Unfortunately, he is the only one who knows how to fly a plane. "What a pickle, isn't it?" Daryl asked sarcastically as Madoline struggled to keep the plane in the air while Winston watched helplessly. Although radio communication is impossible in the mountains, she eventually remembers that she has a satellite phone and manages to call her superior (voiced by Leah Remini). The latter introduces her to a pilot, Hassan (Maz Ali), who tries to tell her about the process of flying a plane while attacking her.

The flirtatious banter eventually got a little too much. But then everything flight risk It's a bit over the top - from the cheesy dialogue, like a bad radio drama in which Madoline tries to figure out the identity of the mole in her organization, to Daryl's numerous attempts to break free from his clutches, offering to use pistols, knives, signals Guns and even shoulder straps for the chance of extremely close combat.

Still, Gibson moves the action so quickly and efficiently that you really don't have time to complain. In this he had help from Wahlberg, who was given his first true villain role since the 1996 film. Fear. The actor actually shaved his head for the role (somehow it still looked more fake than a bald hat), and he exaggerated the character's evil so much that he made Ralph Fiennes' Voldemort look Like a model of restraint. He spends much of the film in the back seat of a plane, delivering increasingly crude (and often bizarrely homophobic) taunts that, according to Gibson, were largely improvised. Wahlberg usually plays stoic, heroic characters, but his performances almost always feel distant. Here he lets his inner weirdo flag fly, and he's never looked more alive on screen.

He's on par with Dockery and has an impressively tough performance that will be surprising Downton AbbeyLady Mary Crawley If she hadn't already proven herself in such an endeavor as a TV series good behavior. Meanwhile, Grace provides plenty of comic relief as a jittery prisoner who delivers acerbic quips even on the brink of death.

by the time flight risk It ends with an uplifting ending that surprised even the film's makers. Die Hard You'll find yourself shaking your head at the absurdity of it all. But chances are you've never thought about looking at your phone.