Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk is a rather risk-free, formulaic, and lazily written confined space thriller that doesn’t have anything remarkable going for it—except for Mark Wahlberg’s zany antics as a psycho killer, which might turn a few heads. The simplistic premise, which follows a US Marshal and an informant being trapped in flight with a deranged, sadistic killer, had the potential to be a solid thriller with proper treatment. You’d think the yesteryear action star, who directed movies like Apocalypto and Hacksaw Ridge, would be able to spin an interesting narrative using this premise, but instead we are treated to a bland, toothless thriller that is unintentionally silly and ludicrous.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Was Winston Detained By Madolyn?
Flight Risk opens with Winston, a former accountant of a mobster named Moretti, hiding in a secluded cabin in Bethel, Alaska. Winston has dirtied his hands a fair bit by helping Moretti to evade the authorities for a long while by handling his funds, and now he himself is on the run. In the beginning, U.S. Marshal Madolyn Harris arrests Winston, who agrees to act as an informant in exchange for protection, given Moretti has started targeting him anyway since the moment he got captured. Detaining Winston was a covert operation, and according to planned arrangements, Madolyn decides to sneak him out of Bethel to Anchorage in a private airplane with only the pilot, Daryl Booth, being the third party involved in the extraction. Madolyn keeps in touch with her colleague/friend, Caroline Van Sant, over comms, who is in charge of supervising the operation in the first place. Their journey begins as the aircraft takes off, and Madolyn seems determined to take Winston to testify against Moretti—and she has a personal reason for getting all worked up. It is revealed that due to a mission gone wrong in the past, Madolyn had been relegated to a desk job for a long time since then. At present, Caroline has pulled a lot of strings to get Madolyn this chance to prove that she is competent enough to return to field duty once again, and losing this opportunity will be detrimental for her career.
Things start going south when a captive Winston notices the real Daryl Booth’s ID and realizes the pilot is an imposter. It doesn’t take Madolyn long to figure out the same as she notices scars on imposter Booth’s face, and Booth’s accent falls apart as soon as she starts questioning him. The pilot, sent by Moretti, had murdered Booth and replaced him and now tries to attack Madolyn to get rid of Winston, but Madolyn is able to use a taser and knock him out. Using a satellite phone at her disposal, she conveys the present situation to Caroline, who links her up with a pilot, Hassan, who helps Madolyn to navigate and pilot the aircraft, all the while flirting with her, which seemed so weird that I can’t explain.
Who Was The Mole In Marshals Service?
Madolyn is baffled, wondering how the pilot might have known about the operation, when she gets even more surprised after the sadistic, unhinged guy starts revealing details about her and Winston’s backgrounds. The pilot threatens Winston with his mother’s life and taunts Madolyn about her past. The reason Madolyn was demoted following her last field mission was because a protected eyewitness was brutally murdered under her watch, and her upright moral compass became her biggest burden. Madolyn asks Caroline to check up on Winston’s household to ensure his mother’s safety and becomes convinced that someone from the agency must have leaked vital information about the mission to Moretti. After Caroline acts a little suspicious, she is quick to judge her friend. Madolyn gets a hold of Marshals Service Director Coleridge, and informs him about the situation, revealing Caroline to be the mole.
However, Madolyn is able to realize her mistake too late when a revelation by Winston allows her to establish a connection between Director Coleridge and Moretti. Very conveniently, after Madolyn reveals the truth to her friend Caroline at the end, she meets a fatal accident while trying to send her support and going to receive her at Anchorage airport. A grief-stricken Madolyn lashes out at Coleridge over the comms and promises to bring him to justice.
Was Madolyn Able To Save Winston At The End?
While all this is happening, the murderous pilot, who was held captive, was able to free himself and attacked Madolyn—when Winston saved her by stabbing him. However, Madolyn refused to kill the pilot as it went against her principles, and took him captive once again. Like clockwork, the pilot was able to escape once again, and this time he ended up stabbing Winston. Madolyn was able to restrain him for good by shooting his leg and became more desperate than ever to land the aircraft, unwilling to revisit her past all over again.
A badly injured Winston starts believing his time on this Earth is limited and starts lamenting about wasting his life in selfish pursuits. Madolyn reassures him but, gradually losing hope of survival, Winston asks her to visit his mother and offer her some solace in case he isn’t able to make it in the end. However, with Hassan’s help, Madolyn is able to land the craft amidst turbulence, despite facing heavy obstruction from the pilot, who attacks her once again. The true identity of the pilot remained unknown till the very end, as during the rough landing, he ended up falling on the landing strip, and the rapidly approaching EMT vehicles, which Hassan had sent to save Winston’s life, ended up running him over.
In Flight Risk’s ending, Winston survives the tumultuous journey, and Madolyn breathes a sigh of relief until she sees the EMT taking Winston away is acting way too suspicious. Madolyn sees the EMT, who was sent by Coleridge as a last-ditch attempt to kill Winston, trying to suffocate him using a plastic bag. Madolyn shoots the EMT to death, and right at the moment, Coleridge calls his now-deceased lackey to learn whether the deed has been done. This confirms his involvement, which will allow Madolyn to expose the Marshals service director at the end. However, Winston’s safety is probably still not guaranteed, as before he testifies in court, Moretti can come up with new plans to eliminate him. Needless to say, Madolyn will not be present all the time like his shadow, and the authorities responsible for Winston’s protection might not be as morally upright as her.
