Guillermo del Toro Calls Denzel Washington Thriller on Paramount+ a “Superb character study”
Guillermo del Toro is one of my favorite directors for the simple reason that he loves movies with an unmatched passion. The Pacific Rim filmmaker watches everything from classic movies to kaiju films and indie arthouse fare. He’s a universal fan of cinema in all its many forms.
Via his social media, del Toro runs a recurring segment called ‘Righting a Wrong’ where he champions films that he thinks deserve a little more love for one reason or another. A while back, the Oscar-winning creator shone the spotlight on a Denzel Washington film, which naturally caught our attention.
Though the feature in question performed fairly well at the box office and even picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and Best Screenplay, del Toro still maintains that it deserves greater acclaim. And, really, who are we to argue? The decorated filmmaker’s social media endorsement reads:
“RIGHTING A WRONG: Flight by Robert Zemeckis. Superb character study. D. Washington plays both his burden and liberation to perfection.”
The setup for Flight is this:
Commercial airline pilot Whip Whitaker (Washington) has a problem with drugs and alcohol, though so far he’s managed to complete his flights safely. His luck runs out when a disastrous mechanical malfunction sends his plane hurtling toward the ground. Whip pulls off a miraculous crash-landing that results in only six lives lost. Shaken to the core, Whip vows to get sober — but when the crash investigation exposes his addiction, he finds himself in an even worse situation.
If del Toro’s appreciation for the film piques your curiosity and you’re itching to check this one out posthaste, you can find Flight streaming on Paramount+.
Director Zemeckis helmed the proceedings from a screenplay by John Gatins. Gatins may be familiar to horror fans for his work on Kong: Skull Island. The scribe takes a ’story by’ credit on that celebrated effort.
For anyone unaware, this thrilling effort takes a small amount of inspiration from a tragic Alaska Airlines crash from 2001. Flight isn’t explicitly based on that story, yet Gatins still incorporates a couple of the associated details. Namely, the jackscrew malfunction that caused the crash and the inverted flight path that followed.
In addition to Washington in the lead role, the film features an impressive supporting cast that includes Yellowstone’s Kelly Reilly, the legendary Don Cheadle, and celebrated sitcom dad John Goodman.
Stay tuned to the site in the near future for more radical recommendations from your favorite creators as we unearth them. Until then, please know that you can always find me on Threads as @FunWithHorror.
Categorized: Streaming News
