Flight is film director Robert Zemeckis’ first live-action film in a long time, and it is a pleasure to see him return with such a powerful movie. However, despite what the trailers indicate, the movie isn’t an action-thriller. Instead, the movie chronicles Denzel Washington’s character, pilot Whip Whitaker’s attempt to break his drug and alcohol addiction.

The movie opens with one of the most thrilling, nail biting scenes I’ve seen in a movie, where Whitaker’s plane has all sorts of mechanical failures and he ultimately has to crash-land the plane. He’s viewed as a hero, but soon questions start being raised; questions that could lead to his arrest.

While he may have performed the unimaginable task of crash-landing a plane and saving the majority of those on board, it soon becomes evident to investigators that Whitaker may have been inebriated at the time. And this is where the focus of the movie lies.

We quickly learn that Whitaker enjoys a few drinks. In fact, he enjoys more than that. The man gets drunk out of his mind, and then does some cocaine to be able to perform during the day. This role is played with brilliance by Washington, and he proves once again that he is always in top form.

It is truly heartbreaking to see Whitaker struggling so bad with his alcoholism, and even when he tries to kick the habit he is unsuccessful. He’s joined by a stellar cast, including Don Cheadle as his lawyer, Bruce Greenwood as his union representative, and Kelley Reilly as a fellow substance abuser. But the actor who shines most is John Goodman who plays Whitaker’s drug dealer. Though his time on screen is brief, Goodman steals the entire movie with his drug-induced antics.

While the acting is there though, the writing is where this movie stumbles. We are being constantly submitted to Whitaker’s drinking, but they never explore why he is an alcoholic. It simply shows him as having a problem and needing to change it. It would have been nice if the movie had more story to it, but it really just focuses on his present situation and nothing else. It has one central conflict, but it never grows besides that.

However, while the movie does stumble, it is overall a solid bit of filmmaking, and it’s nice to see Zemeckis leaving behind his motion-capture days of filmmaking. While I can’t strongly recommend the movie, it is still an enjoyable movie flick that won’t leave you dissatisfied that you saw it.