Denzel Washington plays a troubled pilot in director Robert Zemeckis’ dramatic thriller Flight, new to 4K UHD from Kino Lorber.
The Film
At his core, director Robert Zemeckis has always been a director of human stories. Zemeckis’s best work is oftentimes framed by extraordinary circumstances or events within that human story. Back to the Future, Cast Away, and Contact, at their core, are about the human condition. Flight shares a spiritual kinship with those films, his best work. Like those films, Zemeckis teams with a star at the height of their powers, this time Denzel Washington, for a truly great performance.
Whip Whitaker (Washington) is a womanizing drug addict and alcoholic. He’s also a commercial airline pilot. When he boards the routine flight from Orlando to Atlanta, not even hungover but still drunk and high, it’s a recipe for disaster. It is an outright miracle that he lands the plane. Recovering from the crash isn’t the least of Whitaker’s problems. An FAA probe, an airline that wants to hang him out to dry, a lawyer (Don Cheadle) from the pilots’ union, on top of his own demons and addictions, are all pushing and pulling, vying for the pilot’s word on the matter with possibly billions and jail time at stake. Can Whitaker hold it together long enough to lie about his alcohol use on the day of the crash?
The staging of the opening 30 minutes of Flight rivals Cast Away’s opening plane crash. It is every bit as horrifying and harrowing. In many ways this film’s centerpiece is more so because of the knowledge that the pilot in control of the plane is intoxicated. The film that inspired Robert Zemeckis to come back to live-action filmmaking is more than just its amazing opening action set piece. The way that Zemeckis and screenwriter John Gatins chart Whip Whitaker’s post-crash descent into personal hell is the best work by the director in the second half of his career. A film that does not rely on directorial tricks but rather performance and real human drama as its special effects shows that at his core, the director is as impressive as he was more than a decade earlier, handing us the one-two combo of Cast Away and What Lies Beneath in the same year.
Anchoring the film is star Denzel Washington’s performance as the troubled airline pilot. The acting titan is incapable of a bad performance, and here is no different. What makes Washington so good, and here especially, is his ability to make other actors better. Either by his presence or his talent, every good actor is excellent, and every excellent actor is exceptional.
James Badge Dale is always reliable, but here he is heartbreakingly perfect as the cancer patient that share a cigarette with Whitaker. Or Kelly Reilly, who most certainly got her role as the troubled matriarch in Yellowstone because of her work here as the ex-sex worker trying to go clean that comes into Whitaker’s life. John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, Don Cheadle, and Melissa Leo work here are better than usual because they are acting against Washington. Even smaller roles played by the likes of Geraghty, Nadine Velazquez, and Tamara Tunie are all memorable because of Washington.
The excellence goes beyond the cast as Zemeckis brings his top-tier team of artisans to collaborate. The work from cinematographer Don Burgess and production designer Nelson Coates is seamless and carries an authoritative verisimilitude that films like this rarely do. Editor Jeremiah O’Driscoll and composer Alan Silvestri punctuate and underscore a film that sides on the subtle rather than over-the-top histrionics. Flight works as well as it does because of Zemeckis’ multi-film collaboration with his department heads.
Flight is the reminder that director Robert Zemeckis is one of the great studio filmmakers able to bring the commercial, dramatic, and humanity together in an event package.
The Transfer
The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master is another excellent transfer from Kino Lorber. The digitally shot film by Don Burgess (who used the RED Epic) looks beautiful on 4K UHD. The natively shot 4K image is clean and clear of any digital artificing or issues arising from compression. The Dolby Vision/HDR encoding adds detail within the blacks and contrast levels that wasn’t present in the original Blu-ray release back in 2013. Kino continues to impress with their 4K Upgrades of titles.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian/Writer Julie Kirgo and Writer/Filmmaker Peter Hankoff
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian/Writer Julie Kirgo and Writer/Filmmaker Peter Hankoff
NEW Interview with Director Robert Zemeckis and Screenwriter John Gatins
Origins of Flight
The Making of Flight
Anatomy of a Plane Crash
Q&A Interview Highlights
Theatrical Trailer
The all-new Audio Commentary by Film Historian/Writer Julie Kirgo and Writer/Filmmaker Peter Hankoff opens with their credentials and a discussion of Kirgo’s fear of flying. Some of the details include a discussion of the career of director Robert Zemeckis and where he was when he made Flight; the real-life Alaska Airlines crash that inspired, in part, the film; a discussion of the various plane films and the genres/subgenres they inhabit; a discussion of how the plane crash was made; the work of James Badge Dale and his importance of the character to the story; the work and career of star Denzel Washington; the work of writer John Gatins and how long it took to develop the screenplay; the collaboration between Zemeckis and cinematographer Don Burgess, editor Jeremiah O’Driscoll, composer Alan Silvestri over multiple films; a larger discussion of the themes of the film beyond addiction and sobriety, including faith (not just religious but other faiths); a larger discussion throughout about the various actors and their work in the film; and much more.
Impact: Interview with Director Robert Zemeckis and Screenwriter John Gatins (28:57) – is an all-new interview with the director and screenwriter (interviewed together) that opens with how risky this film was, right before the landscape of studio filmmaking changed with IP and Reboots/Sequels being king. Some of the details include how the story came together for Gatins; the attachment of Zemeckis and Washington; Zemeckis and Gatins’ first meeting; the development process and collaboration between the two; the research of plane crashes and how many are mechanical failure and how many are pilot error – which informed the centerpiece of Flight; the inverting of the plane and how much reality there is to the situation; their respective first meetings with Washington; Washington’s preparation for the role before and during the production; a discussion of the casting and work of the various actors in the film; the testing, marketing, and release of the film; and much more.
Origins of Flight (10:30) – this archival featurette looks at the origins of the story of Flight by writer John Gatins and its development of the script, its themes, the mature/adult nature of the film, what drew Zemeckis to the project, Denzel’s attachment and work with the script, and the unique nature of the drama in this film. A surprising wealth of behind-the-scenes footage is featured in this look at the story’s origins. Featuring interviews with Gatins, director Robert Zemeckis, star Denzel Washington, Bruce Greenwood, and others.
The Making of Flight (11:32) – this archival featurette looks at the first live-action film that Robert Zemeckis had done in close to a decade. This making-of details the short production schedule, the casting, the unique nature of the script, Zemeckis’s directing process, the work of Denzel, and much more. Featuring interviews with director Robert Zemeckis, stars Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood, writer John Gatins, producer Steve Starkey, and others.
Anatomy of a Plane Crash (7:47) – this archival featurette looks at the making of the harrowing opening flight crash. This fairly in-depth look at this highly complex sequence features great b-roll footage from making the sequence and interviews with director Robert Zemeckis, production designer Nelson Coates, stars Denzel Washington, Brian Geraghty, writer John Gatins, special effects supervisor Michael Lantieri, and others.
Q&A Interview Highlights (14:18) – in this archival post-screening Q&A held in part by the Los Angeles Times at the time of release. The group discusses the original concept, the themes, their research, and the production of the film. This does feature an audience Q&A portion; thankfully, these questions are not heard, but rather a title screen with the question. The attendees include Director Robert Zemeckis, writer John Gatins, actors Don Cheadle, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, Melissa Leo, James Badge Dale, Brian Geraghty, and Tamara Tunie.
Rounding out the special features are trailers for Flight (2:32); Mo’ Better Blues (2:42); The Bone Collector (2:29); The Manchurian Candidate (2:31); Inside Man (2:14); Turbulence (2:00);
The Final Thought
Kino Lorber has given us another great 4K upgrade. Highest Possible Recommendations!!
Denzel Washington plays a troubled pilot in director Robert Zemeckis’ dramatic thriller Flight, new to 4K UHD from Kino Lorber.
The Film
At his core, director Robert Zemeckis has always been a director of human stories. Zemeckis’s best work is oftentimes framed by extraordinary circumstances or events within that human story. Back to the Future, Cast Away, and Contact, at their core, are about the human condition. Flight shares a spiritual kinship with those films, his best work. Like those films, Zemeckis teams with a star at the height of their powers, this time Denzel Washington, for a truly great performance.
Whip Whitaker (Washington) is a womanizing drug addict and alcoholic. He’s also a commercial airline pilot. When he boards the routine flight from Orlando to Atlanta, not even hungover but still drunk and high, it’s a recipe for disaster. It is an outright miracle that he lands the plane. Recovering from the crash isn’t the least of Whitaker’s problems. An FAA probe, an airline that wants to hang him out to dry, a lawyer (Don Cheadle) from the pilots’ union, on top of his own demons and addictions, are all pushing and pulling, vying for the pilot’s word on the matter with possibly billions and jail time at stake. Can Whitaker hold it together long enough to lie about his alcohol use on the day of the crash?
The staging of the opening 30 minutes of Flight rivals Cast Away’s opening plane crash. It is every bit as horrifying and harrowing. In many ways this film’s centerpiece is more so because of the knowledge that the pilot in control of the plane is intoxicated. The film that inspired Robert Zemeckis to come back to live-action filmmaking is more than just its amazing opening action set piece. The way that Zemeckis and screenwriter John Gatins chart Whip Whitaker’s post-crash descent into personal hell is the best work by the director in the second half of his career. A film that does not rely on directorial tricks but rather performance and real human drama as its special effects shows that at his core, the director is as impressive as he was more than a decade earlier, handing us the one-two combo of Cast Away and What Lies Beneath in the same year.
Anchoring the film is star Denzel Washington’s performance as the troubled airline pilot. The acting titan is incapable of a bad performance, and here is no different. What makes Washington so good, and here especially, is his ability to make other actors better. Either by his presence or his talent, every good actor is excellent, and every excellent actor is exceptional.
James Badge Dale is always reliable, but here he is heartbreakingly perfect as the cancer patient that share a cigarette with Whitaker. Or Kelly Reilly, who most certainly got her role as the troubled matriarch in Yellowstone because of her work here as the ex-sex worker trying to go clean that comes into Whitaker’s life. John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, Don Cheadle, and Melissa Leo work here are better than usual because they are acting against Washington. Even smaller roles played by the likes of Geraghty, Nadine Velazquez, and Tamara Tunie are all memorable because of Washington.
The excellence goes beyond the cast as Zemeckis brings his top-tier team of artisans to collaborate. The work from cinematographer Don Burgess and production designer Nelson Coates is seamless and carries an authoritative verisimilitude that films like this rarely do. Editor Jeremiah O’Driscoll and composer Alan Silvestri punctuate and underscore a film that sides on the subtle rather than over-the-top histrionics. Flight works as well as it does because of Zemeckis’ multi-film collaboration with his department heads.
Flight is the reminder that director Robert Zemeckis is one of the great studio filmmakers able to bring the commercial, dramatic, and humanity together in an event package.
The Transfer
The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master is another excellent transfer from Kino Lorber. The digitally shot film by Don Burgess (who used the RED Epic) looks beautiful on 4K UHD. The natively shot 4K image is clean and clear of any digital artificing or issues arising from compression. The Dolby Vision/HDR encoding adds detail within the blacks and contrast levels that wasn’t present in the original Blu-ray release back in 2013. Kino continues to impress with their 4K Upgrades of titles.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
The all-new Audio Commentary by Film Historian/Writer Julie Kirgo and Writer/Filmmaker Peter Hankoff opens with their credentials and a discussion of Kirgo’s fear of flying. Some of the details include a discussion of the career of director Robert Zemeckis and where he was when he made Flight; the real-life Alaska Airlines crash that inspired, in part, the film; a discussion of the various plane films and the genres/subgenres they inhabit; a discussion of how the plane crash was made; the work of James Badge Dale and his importance of the character to the story; the work and career of star Denzel Washington; the work of writer John Gatins and how long it took to develop the screenplay; the collaboration between Zemeckis and cinematographer Don Burgess, editor Jeremiah O’Driscoll, composer Alan Silvestri over multiple films; a larger discussion of the themes of the film beyond addiction and sobriety, including faith (not just religious but other faiths); a larger discussion throughout about the various actors and their work in the film; and much more.
Impact: Interview with Director Robert Zemeckis and Screenwriter John Gatins (28:57) – is an all-new interview with the director and screenwriter (interviewed together) that opens with how risky this film was, right before the landscape of studio filmmaking changed with IP and Reboots/Sequels being king. Some of the details include how the story came together for Gatins; the attachment of Zemeckis and Washington; Zemeckis and Gatins’ first meeting; the development process and collaboration between the two; the research of plane crashes and how many are mechanical failure and how many are pilot error – which informed the centerpiece of Flight; the inverting of the plane and how much reality there is to the situation; their respective first meetings with Washington; Washington’s preparation for the role before and during the production; a discussion of the casting and work of the various actors in the film; the testing, marketing, and release of the film; and much more.
Origins of Flight (10:30) – this archival featurette looks at the origins of the story of Flight by writer John Gatins and its development of the script, its themes, the mature/adult nature of the film, what drew Zemeckis to the project, Denzel’s attachment and work with the script, and the unique nature of the drama in this film. A surprising wealth of behind-the-scenes footage is featured in this look at the story’s origins. Featuring interviews with Gatins, director Robert Zemeckis, star Denzel Washington, Bruce Greenwood, and others.
The Making of Flight (11:32) – this archival featurette looks at the first live-action film that Robert Zemeckis had done in close to a decade. This making-of details the short production schedule, the casting, the unique nature of the script, Zemeckis’s directing process, the work of Denzel, and much more. Featuring interviews with director Robert Zemeckis, stars Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood, writer John Gatins, producer Steve Starkey, and others.
Anatomy of a Plane Crash (7:47) – this archival featurette looks at the making of the harrowing opening flight crash. This fairly in-depth look at this highly complex sequence features great b-roll footage from making the sequence and interviews with director Robert Zemeckis, production designer Nelson Coates, stars Denzel Washington, Brian Geraghty, writer John Gatins, special effects supervisor Michael Lantieri, and others.
Q&A Interview Highlights (14:18) – in this archival post-screening Q&A held in part by the Los Angeles Times at the time of release. The group discusses the original concept, the themes, their research, and the production of the film. This does feature an audience Q&A portion; thankfully, these questions are not heard, but rather a title screen with the question. The attendees include Director Robert Zemeckis, writer John Gatins, actors Don Cheadle, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, Melissa Leo, James Badge Dale, Brian Geraghty, and Tamara Tunie.
Rounding out the special features are trailers for Flight (2:32); Mo’ Better Blues (2:42); The Bone Collector (2:29); The Manchurian Candidate (2:31); Inside Man (2:14); Turbulence (2:00);
The Final Thought
Kino Lorber has given us another great 4K upgrade. Highest Possible Recommendations!!
Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD Edition of Flight is out now.
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