Flight

Denzel Washington once again turns in a truly terrific and heartfelt performance in Flight. Portraying a severely flawed and damaged human being while at the same time being able to convince us that this very same character is all the more tragic because of his extraordinary talent is something very few actors can pull off. As such there are few actors in the business if any who are better then Denzel Washington. A truly tragic fall from grace is the cornerstone of any great tragedy but what makes Flight unique in these regards is that we get to only see one real instance of the incredible talent that William "Whip" does in fact possess. Essentially, when we meet William is already damaged almost beyond repair. The fact that people suffering from various forms of addiction are usually severely emotionally depressed people who abuse substances in order to make up for their own feelings of inadequacy amongst other things is a key theme to the film. Like any great character portrayal the real enjoyment of watching Flight is waiting to see if William will ever finally accept personal responsibility for his own actions. Lastly, Robert Zemeckis may perhaps be the most underrated American filmmaker. His films have included The Back To The Future Trilogy, Forrest Gump, Cast Away and Who Framed Roger Rabbit amongst others. Zemeckis has a great knack for telling a story and using all of the cinematic techniques at his disposal to create extremely vibrant and detailed worlds that in many ways resemble reality but in fact feel very much like they are rooted in a fairytale. His settings always make us slightly aware that this is not reality but instead a tale designed to make us wonder at the magic of film and maybe learn an emotional truth along the way. Check out Flight! Thoughts?