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Flight
Commercial airline pilot Whip Whitaker 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.
2012 · Directed by Robert Zemeckis · 138 min · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 11 frames
Tagline
Some miracles are not what they seem.
Plot
One morning, airline pilot William "Whip" Whitaker snorts cocaine to stay alert after a night of drinking in his Orlando hotel room with flight attendant Katerina Marquez, who is scheduled to work his flight. He captains SouthJet Air Flight 227 to Atlanta. Meanwhile, a drug addict named Nicole Maggen buys heroin and overdoses.
After takeoff, the first officer, Ken Evans, takes over while Whip mixes vodka in his orange juice and takes a nap. He is jolted awake when the plane enters a catastrophic dive. Whip manages to regain partial control by rolling the aircraft upside down and executing a crash-landing in an open field. The maneuver saves 96 of the 102 people on board; the six dead include Katerina, who dies saving a child. Whip is injured and loses consciousness.
Whip awakens in an Atlanta hospital with moderate injuries and is greeted by Charlie Anderson, who represents the airline's pilots union. Charlie credits Whip with saving most of the passengers and informs him that Evans is in a coma but is expected to survive. Whip is also visited by his drug dealer, Harling Mays, who offers him alcohol, which he refuses. While smoking, Whip meets Nicole, who is also hospitalized after her overdose, and the two form a connection.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: John Gatins
- Cinematography: Don Burgess
- Edited by: Jeremiah O'Driscoll
- Music: Alan Silvestri
- Production design: Nelson Coates
- Produced by: Jack Rapke, Walter F. Parkes, Robert Zemeckis, Steve Starkey
Cast
- Denzel Washington as Whip Whitaker
- Don Cheadle as Hugh Lang
- Kelly Reilly as Nicole
- John Goodman as Harling Mays
- Bruce Greenwood as Charlie Anderson
- Brian Geraghty as Ken Evans
- Tamara Tunie as Margaret Thomason
- Nadine Velazquez as Katerina Marquez
- Peter Gerety as Avington Carr
- Garcelle Beauvais as Deana
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Paramount Pictures, ImageMovers, Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation
- Budget: $31,000,000
- Box office: $161,772,575
- Themes: airplane, confession, investigation, pilot, emergency landing, flight, alcoholism, f word, hangover, airplane accident
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