I saw this yesterday afternoon but it took me a little while to figure out how I felt about it...it's an easy movie to like because it does a very good job at showing what addiction does to people. But that's more of a testament to Denzel's excellent performance rather than the somewhat tepid script and the off-pace direction of Rob Zemekis.
After the gripping first half hour involving the plane landing, the film starts to meander a bit on what it's going to be about. On the one hand, it's definitely a character study about addiction. Whitaker (Washington) is an alcoholic, but he's also sort of a casual drug user.
You have another story involving a former heroin addict, Nicole, who gets clean from a hospital visit (?); but as far as I know, heroin's one of the hardest drugs to quit, and she doesn't seem to have much of a problem.
I also had problems with the fact that we never get the "hero worship" angle that was begging to be tapped into seeing as how the guy saved 96 people on a plane that was supposed to crash and didn't. not to mention i'd have a hard time believing that the investigation would've harped on the toxicology report, because that's just bad PR.
it also never really seemed to give drama to the story. i never felt that whitaker was in jeopardy of anything.
And finally, there was a really murky "god" subtext that just felt weird. There was an awkward scene with the co-pilot and his wife that just made no sense at all.
A better script and more focused direction from Zemekis would've made this an instant classic. but it was not up to Denzel's absolutely brilliant performance. It's a shame, too, because I've been waiting for him to deliver a great performance in a great movie. Well the former happened but not the latter.
If you're strugging with addiction, I'd recommend it. His treatment of what it is to be a drunk and doper is spot on. But the film itself kind of gets lost in its muddled execution of an admirable message.
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