Major spoilers ahead for Flight Risk. You’ve been warned.
*
*
Over the last 15 years, actor/director Mel Gibson’s been slowly and quietly working his way out of Hollywood jail, after a string of very public displays of truly reprehensible behavior nearly ruined his career. Even the accolades and awards for his directorial work on Hacksaw Ridge (2016) weren’t enough to wipe away the stain on his marquis value.
So he’s been taking parts in small movies, some of which have been quite good. Like his over-the-top but fun baddie in Expendables 3 (2014), or his version of a crusty, down-on-his-luck Santa Claus in Fatman, or most recently in The Continental (2023) as part of the John Wick universe. Now Gibson’s back in the director’s chair on a little flick called Flight Risk. Is it a successful return to form? Read on to find out.
RELATED: Nosferatu Spoiler Review
Flight Risk starts out somewhere in small-town Alaska, where a nebbish guy named Winston (Topher Grace) sits in a motel room nuking some Cup-o-Noodles. Suddenly, some Federal agents bust in, including US Marshal Madolyn Harris (Michelle Dockery). As it turns out, Winston’s been hiding from the mob boss he was working for, named Moretti. Madolyn’s there to bring Winston to New York to testify against him.

Madolyn brings Winston to the nearest airport, where she shackles him to the backseat of the little Cessna plane. They’re met by bush pilot Daryl Booth (Mark Wahlberg), who’s going to ferry them to Anchorage. Daryl comes off as friendly – if a little annoying – with his exaggerated Southern drawl. Madolyn points out a fresh scratch on Booth’s neck, but he says he got it from working on the plane.
They take off, and as they make small talk, the plane bumps around from turbulence. Winston looks down at the floor as some stuff falls out from under the pilot’s seat. He sees Booth’s credentials – only problem is that the photo on the creds isn’t the same guy. Realizing they’re trapped with what must be a hitman, Winston tries to get Madolyn’s attention, but she thinks he’s just being a pain in the ass.
RELATED: 10 Guilty Pleasure Movies
When Booth turns to give Winston an air sickness bag, Madolyn notices some blood on his jacket sleeve. Then she asks how he knew they were going to Seattle. Booth just brushes it off, saying that’s where everybody from Anchorage goes. But Booth realizes that Madolyn’s caught onto him, so he announces himself as being sent by Moretti. The plan is to fly them deep into the bush and kill them.
Madolyn and Booth fight and Madolyn gets knocked out. Winston tries to bargain with Booth, saying he could get him a million dollars from the funds he’s skimmed. He mentions one of Moretti’s payoffs being someone who got $25,000 every month. Madolyn comes around then, and when Booth goes to grab her, she tases him (for like a minute straight, yikes) until he’s knocked out.
Madolyn jumps into the pilot seat and pulls back on the yoke just in time to keep them from crashing. Then she reluctantly releases Winston from his shackles so he can help her move Booth to the back. She tells Winston to handcuff him to a leather grab strap hanging from the roof while she tries to raise someone on the radio.

Winston finds some papers in Booth’s jacket with photos of him and his mother’s house. He realizes that Moretti’s people are going to kill his mom if he testifies. Unable to get the radio working, Madolyn remembers that she has a satellite phone and calls her partner, Agent Van Zant (voiced by Leah Remini). Madolyn tells her what’s going on and says that Moretti must have someone in the Marshal’s office. Van Zant says she’ll get a pilot on the line with her.
Soon after, a friendly pilot named Hasan (voiced by Maaz Ali) gets on the line with Madolyn. He manages to flirt with her while guiding her on flying the plane. He gets them on course for Anchorage and tells her he’ll call back. Van Zant then calls and tells Madolyn that they found the real Daryl Booth murdered.
RELATED: Kraven The Hunter Spoiler Review
Meanwhile, the fake Booth regains consciousness and starts taunting them. He brings up the fact that someone else in Madolyn’s care died, which makes her angry enough to go back and pistol-whip him. Winston demands to know what happened, and Madolyn tells the tale. She was assigned to watch a female witness against one of the cartels. Madolyn allowed the woman to take a shower unsupervised, and a sicario got in and set the place on fire with a Molotov cocktail. The witness was shackled to the tub and died. Madolyn was demoted to a desk afterward and is still haunted by the woman’s death.
Van Zant calls back and says they have people waiting for them on the ground in Anchorage. But, now worried that Van Zant is the leak, Madolyn calls their boss, Agent Coleridge (voiced by Paul Ben-Victor). She tells him what she thinks is going on, and he says he’ll check it out. Then Madolyn and Winston spot a shipwreck, which Madolyn relates to Hasan, and he’s able to pinpoint their location. He continues to flirt and manages to get Madolyn to agree to go out to dinner and show her his awesome dance moves. Then they barely manage to avoid flying into a mountain and barrel right through a huge snow drift.
RELATED: Fatman Spoiler Review
Meanwhile, Booth’s busy trying to get himself free using a piece of Madolyn’s sunglasses to cut through the stitching on the strap. He’s also able to catch a boxcutter that slid down when the plane pitched upward. Booth manages to get free and stabs Winston with the boxcutter and then strangles Madolyn. Winston bravely pulls the knife out of him and helps Madolyn, who pushes Booth back and shoots him with a flare.

As the plane fills with smoke, Madolyn hits Booth in the head with a fire extinguisher, knocking him out again. She extinguishes the flare, lets out the smoke and then tries to help Winston. She gets back on the line with Hasan and says they need to fly faster because Winston needs to get to a hospital, fast. Hasan warns that they’ll burn through their fuel before they can land, but Madolyn refuses to lose Winston. A groggy Winston starts talking about all the bad stuff he’s done, and this reminds Madolyn of the payoffs. The guy receiving the $25,000 every month had his payments going to a particular place – the same place Agent Coleridge lives.
RELATED: Smile 2 Spoiler Review
Realizing that Coleridge is the leak and not Van Zant, Madolyn calls Van Zant to warn her and apologize for thinking she was the leak. Then, spotting the coastline, Madolyn gets back on the line with Hasan, who gets them in position to land at Anchorage. She then tries to call Van Zant only to be answered by Coleridge, who informs her that Van Zant was just in a fatal car accident – presumably caused by one of Moretti’s goons. Enraged and upset, Madolyn says she knows Coleridge is the leak, and she’ll stop him.
Then Madolyn and Winston see two fighter jets on either side of them. From the back, Booth warns they’re there to shoot them down. As he’s saying this, he’s trying to work his way out of the handcuffs by breaking his thumb. Ow. Madolyn gets back on with Hasan as they prepare to land, but then Booth gets free.
RELATED: Alien: Romulus Spoiler Review
Booth attacks Madolyn, sending the plane off course. Madolyn manages to shoot Booth a couple of times and then jumps back into the pilot seat and gets back on course for the runway. Their engine stalls, out of fuel, but Hasan says that’s actually okay, saying, “No fuel means you’re less flammable.” One of the best lines.
Madolyn comes in for a hard landing, and the emergency crews chase the plane as it skids down the runway. The plane loses part of the fuselage, and Booth gets sucked out, landing on the runway just in time to get hit by a fire truck. Once they’re down and stopped, the EMTs get Winston out and take him to an ambulance.

Madolyn meets Hasan (Monib Abhat) for a brief moment but then spots a shady-looking guy on a cell phone getting in the ambulance. She runs after him and opens the doors to find the guy suffocating Winston with a plastic bag. Madolyn shoots the guy and then gets on his cell phone, which is still online with Coleridge. She tells him his plan failed, and it’s over for him. Now unlikely buddies, Madolyn comforts Winston as all the emergency crew guys stare at her, stunned and impressed.
***
Flight Risk is one of those flicks that there really isn’t much to say about. It is what it is – and what it is, is a lean, straightforward actioner. Nothing more, nothing less. The script delivers the basic goods with some padding – that being the whole leak in the Marshal’s office thing – which gets the flick up to the bare minimum runtime.
RELATED: Heretic Spoiler Review
Is it the best writing ever? Hardly. It’s the main plot points. That’s it. There’s no imagination to it, and the dialogue is so rote it sounds like it came out of a thousand other flicks you’ve already seen. Mark Wahlberg gets most of the best lines, and his performance is appropriately nutty. Though his exaggerated Southern drawl is annoying enough that if I were from anywhere in the South, I’d be insulted. Thankfully, though, once he’s revealed as the baddie, that all goes away. He just becomes the psycho guy cackling in the backseat, trying to rock a really bad bald cap.
I feel most for Michelle Dockery, who’s undoubtedly trying to get past the Downton Abbey label and show off more range. Unfortunately, this isn’t the best flick to demonstrate it. She does what she must and plays Madolyn with a no-nonsense toughness, which comes off more as bland and monotone. She does get a couple of moments where she’s able to let loose, though – the best being when Madolyn finds out Van Zant is dead, and she lets out some raw emotion.
RELATED: Hold Your Breath Spoiler Review
The best part of the whole flick is the relationship between her and Topher Grace’s Winston. Grace has a fantastic, deadpan delivery that makes for great comedy. But what he doesn’t usually get to show much of is more serious emotion. But he gets a bit of a chance to do that here, and he makes for a believable poor shmuck who you feel badly for. He and Dockery do a pretty decent job convincing us of their bonding under extraordinary circumstances – and at the very end, when she hugs him, it feels genuine.
It feels like Mel Gibson took on Flight Risk as an exercise rather than a passion project, as a way to keep his directing muscles from completely atrophying and keep his DGA membership active. That said, Flight Risk is exactly what the barely-adequate script demands. It does have humor and some (though not enough) moments of real excitement. So if all you’re looking for is something fun and diverting for 90 minutes, Flight Risk fits the bill – just barely. But it fits.
Directed by: Mel Gibson
Written by: Jared Rosenberg
Release date: Jan 24, 2025
Rating: R
Run time: 1hr, 31min
Distributor: Lionsgate
- HEART EYES Spoiler Review - February 11, 2025
- FLIGHT RISK Spoiler Review - January 28, 2025
- WOLF MAN Spoiler Review - January 21, 2025