Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
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.
Denzel Washington delivers a powerhouse performance as Whip Whitaker, carrying the film almost single-handedly and earning the high Acting score. The crash sequence is technically impressive but the rest of the cinematography is fairly standard prestige drama fare. The plot follows a fairly predictable addiction-and-redemption arc once the spectacular opening is over, and the film doesn't bring much new to the substance-abuse drama genre — it hits familiar beats without reinventing them. The ending provides satisfying closure but leans into conventional recovery narrative territory. Overall a solid but unremarkable drama elevated by its lead performance.