FLIGHT

A man wakes up in a dishevelled hotel room, he snorts a line of coke then moments later strides confidently towards an aeroplane. This is your pilot and this is Flight.

What follows is one of the most harrowing portrayals of a plane crash seen on a movie screen. But the movie is not about this flight, it’s about the descent of the pilot, Whip.

Denzel Washington is superb as Whip, an addict in denial. During the subsequent investigation he is a narcissistic drunk, an angry self righteous junkie and a sloppy, slurring, slob. His biggest battle is with sobriety not authority.

The script by John Gatins is almost too realistic and the resolution a bit too sentimental. However this is a convincing portrait of addiction with a brilliant cast. (LR) ***