Review: Flight Risk (2025)

Flight Risk is the epitome of a January release: a no-frills, genre affair that belongs in this dumping ground month for movies that aren’t prestige or blockbusters. That is, except for one wrinkle: it’s directed by a former Best Director winner. Of course, Mel Gibson’s star is not as bright as it was in 1996 when he won his Oscars, or even in 2017 when he was last nominated for Best Director for Hacksaw Ridge. These days Gibson is a direct-to-video action star, Trump spokesman, and still Hollywood’s angriest Catholic. In short, he’s something of an afterthought for big Hollywood releases. So, maybe it’s not a wrinkle after all that Gibson directed this. He currently does most of his work in B-movies, so he knows how to play the hits with this low ambition thriller.

Not that Flight Risk is exceptional. Its modest success is rooted in its, well, modesty. It’s solid, conventional, a bit familiar, but in a good way, completely fulfilling the function of a 91-minute action movie released in January. It moves fast and has a compelling hook. Not that it’s smart, or anything. But it does understand that it’s simply meant to be a picture that holds your attention for an hour and a half. The plot follows a US federal marshall (Michelle Dockery) transporting a cooperating federal witness (Topher Grace) by plane through remote Alaska. The only problem is their pilot (Mark Walhberg) turns out to be a hitman sent by the mob to kill the witness before he can testify. If she incapacitates him, it’s no good, cause no one else can fly the plane.

Wahlberg is the draw here, first sporting a hokey Alabama accent and then dropping it and sporting hilarious “sides” (a haircut that’s bald on top but long on the sides) when his cover is blown. He’s having a great time and is outlandish enough to make you pay attention throughout. He’s not the focus though. Both Dockery and Grace get more screen time and even more zingers; it’s amazing that Grace is still pulling off the same beta smartass shtick that he was on That 70s Show even 20 years after it went off the air. Dockery is the least showy here, but she’s not bad; she’s credibly physical without becoming a “strong woman” cliche, damaged enough to have some grey areas without being tormented by trauma. She just isn’t as flamboyant as her co-stars who get to have more fun in B-movies of this sort.

Gibson also gives Flight Risk some extra texture as director. One is his obvious punch-up of the script, which simultaneously brings corny humour and threats of sadomasochism. Wahlberg’s threats frequently veer into the sadistic territory, implying rape and torture and all other manner of nastiness. There’s the added bonus of playing to the film’s anti-woke vibe, which, honestly, is overdue in genre movies of this sort; sometimes, being nasty is fine in a minor picture.

Another is his talent with the camera. Flight Risk might take place almost entirely within the cabin of this single engine prop plane heading to Anchorage, but it’s not visually boring. Gibson knows when to opt for wide frames that slowly push in from the back or quick insert shots that draw your attention to the next items used in combat. The movie is effectively functional in its construction, keeping up the momentum despite the limited setting, not over-complicating the modest tension of the script, and, perhaps most entertainingly, recreating a 90s visual sheen despite the digital filmmaking.

Will I remember Flight Risk in a year’s time? Even a month’s time? Not really, but that doesn’t discount its functional success when I watched it. The curiosity of Mel Gibson directing a minor action thriller in January made me watch it. The unpretentious entertainment offered by the filmmaking made me glad I did.

6 out of 10

Flight Risk (2025, USA)

Directed by Mel Gibson; written by Jared Rosenberg; starring Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, Topher Grace.

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