Troubling questions arise after airline pilot Whip Whitaker makes a miracle landing after a mid-air catastrophe.Troubling questions arise after airline pilot Whip Whitaker makes a miracle landing after a mid-air catastrophe.Troubling questions arise after airline pilot Whip Whitaker makes a miracle landing after a mid-air catastrophe.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 15 wins & 45 nominations total
Adam C. Edwards
- Father on Plane
- (as Adam Ciesielski)
Charlie E. Schmidt
- Tiki Pot
- (as Charlie E. Schmidt Jr.)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe accident in the film was inspired by a real-life disaster, the crash of Alaska Airlines 261 on January 31, 2000. Some dialogue in the film closely resembles the CVR transcript. Like in the film, the pilots of Alaska 261 rolled the airplane to an inverted position to try to stabilize the flight. Unlike the film, however, this did not assist them in recovering the aircraft. The root cause of the crash was found to be inadequate maintenance of the airplane's stabilizer "jackscrew," which caused its threads to wear down excessively and eventually jam the jackscrew. While the pilots were trying to reach Los Angeles for an emergency landing, the threads were ripped out and the stabilizer moved to a position that forced the plane into its fatal dive.
- GoofsThe NTSB investigation portrayed in the movie includes recovered data from the Cockpit Voice Recorder. US law requires Cockpit Voice Recorders to include at least 30 minutes of audio data from both pilots and Air Traffic Control radio transmissions. Since the plane crashed in less than 30 minutes, the audio from the CVR should have included Evans and Margaret's conversation about Whip sleeping on the job. This would have raised serious questions about Whip's behavior aside from his alcohol and drug usage. However, nothing about this is mentioned at any point during the NTSB hearing.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #21.22 (2012)
- SoundtracksAlcohol
Written by Stephen Duffy & Steven Page
Performed by Barenaked Ladies
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing
Featured review
"Flight" is a film that brought Denzel Washington an Oscar nomination...something his performance richly deserved. It's a terrific performance in a terrific, yet harrowing, film.
Whip Whitaker (Washington) is an absolute mess. Although he's an airline pilot, he's an addict and boards a plane under the influence of cocaine and alcohol. He's so badly impaired that during the flight, he managed to sneak MORE alcohol into his body! Now here's the amazing part....the plane literally begins to fall apart in midair and through VERY quick thinking, he manages to crash land the plane with only minimal loss of life. When Whip awakens at the hospital, he soon learns that the press is declaring that he's a hero! This film is about his actions and the airline's and the pilot union's following the crash.
The scene where the plane begins to fall apart and crashes is about the most harrowing and adrenaline-pumping scenes you'll ever see in a film. I could actually feel my chest pounding and STRONGLY recommend anyone with a fear of flying to avoid this film!!! It's well done...and it's shocking no Oscar nominations were given to the folks who created this scene!
I appreciate Denzel Washington in this film. Not only is he very good, but he really took a risk here playing such a screwed up and self-destructive guy. This was clearly a stretch for him...and it's nice to see him do something different.
Overall, this is a really amazing film...not just because of the crash but also because it really shows addiction in all its ugliness and with great realism. Among the best of 2012...though oddly apart from Washington and one minor award, the film wasn't nominated for Best Picture nor Best Director.
UPDATE: I recently found "The Pilot" on YouTube. It's a very, very similar story starring Cliff Robertson...so similar that I have to believe the writer of "Flight" was 'inspired' by it strongly. Because it's so similar, I am amending my score for "Flight" from 10 to 9....but it's still a terrific story.
Whip Whitaker (Washington) is an absolute mess. Although he's an airline pilot, he's an addict and boards a plane under the influence of cocaine and alcohol. He's so badly impaired that during the flight, he managed to sneak MORE alcohol into his body! Now here's the amazing part....the plane literally begins to fall apart in midair and through VERY quick thinking, he manages to crash land the plane with only minimal loss of life. When Whip awakens at the hospital, he soon learns that the press is declaring that he's a hero! This film is about his actions and the airline's and the pilot union's following the crash.
The scene where the plane begins to fall apart and crashes is about the most harrowing and adrenaline-pumping scenes you'll ever see in a film. I could actually feel my chest pounding and STRONGLY recommend anyone with a fear of flying to avoid this film!!! It's well done...and it's shocking no Oscar nominations were given to the folks who created this scene!
I appreciate Denzel Washington in this film. Not only is he very good, but he really took a risk here playing such a screwed up and self-destructive guy. This was clearly a stretch for him...and it's nice to see him do something different.
Overall, this is a really amazing film...not just because of the crash but also because it really shows addiction in all its ugliness and with great realism. Among the best of 2012...though oddly apart from Washington and one minor award, the film wasn't nominated for Best Picture nor Best Director.
UPDATE: I recently found "The Pilot" on YouTube. It's a very, very similar story starring Cliff Robertson...so similar that I have to believe the writer of "Flight" was 'inspired' by it strongly. Because it's so similar, I am amending my score for "Flight" from 10 to 9....but it's still a terrific story.
- planktonrules
- Feb 23, 2022
- Permalink
- How long is Flight?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- El vuelo
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $31,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $93,772,375
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $24,900,566
- Nov 4, 2012
- Gross worldwide
- $161,772,375
- Runtime2 hours 18 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content