'Fight or Flight' Review: Josh Hartnett Keeps Plane Thriller Just Above Ground
Josh Hartnett fueled widespread conversation last year with his performance in the M. Night Shyamalan thriller Trap. From awards buzz to razzie rumors, it’s safe to say that the general audience’s reaction to that role was, much like the movie, conflicting. So, following a polarizing performance such as that one, what is an actor to do next? Star in a B-movie action thriller and dye your hair blonde in the process, of course.
Fight or Flight operates as a Hartnett machine; not only does he have a stranglehold on the main role, but truly, the movie as a whole. It doesn’t take five minutes for him to grace the screen towards the beginning, and from that point forward, the filmmakers don’t dare keep him off it for longer than a few inconsequential beats. Unlike the way he exhibited a reserved chaos in Trap, Hartnett unleashes the entirety of that maniacal anger and energy here. He’s consuming any substance in his path, smoking anything that burns, and not-so-eloquently checking off every curse word in what seems to be his own memorized encyclopedia. He’s the protagonist, undoubtedly, but a good guy? Far from it.
As a former agent, a sort of hired hand, he’s brought back into the business once more by his former boss (Katee Sackhoff) on the condition that, should he complete his mission, she’ll clear his name. Along the way he teams up with Isha (Charithra Chandran), in addition to a rag-tag group of like-minded passengers on a plane ride that was doomed from the start. Hartnett, along with almost everyone else on the plane, is after one singular target that is supposed to be on the same flight, carrying a massive bounty on their head. The only thing is, nobody knows who the target actually is, and everyone suspects everyone else.
It’s a cool and seemingly unique concept, at least at first glance. One that director James Madigan, in his first directorial credit on film, makes good enough use of, especially in the third act. But the film, despite all the fighting going on, lacks a real singular punch. Both visually and within the script, little is done to set this apart, aside from the occasional flying chainsaw and indiscriminate liquid in a bottle.
Fight or Flight has been compared already to Bullet Train by a lot of folks, quite obviously for the on-rails (wings? wheels?) plot structure and zany, unusual cast of characters. But the difference, beyond the latter’s stacked cast, is in the characters they play. Josh Hartnett, again, is fantastic; but he could have been even better if the material he was given to work with was remotely compelling beyond basic fun-factor.
For that matter, every character feels unfinished. Their journeys are clear — so clear, in fact, that you don’t have to dig at all to take anything from them. Everything these characters, and the film as a whole, has to offer lies in perfect visibility on its surface. And most of it is covered in blood.
This is an exceptionally fun movie at times, and an action movie specifically down to the bone, and to a fault. Because when the action, which, to the film’s credit, is quite strong, stops, the whole thing stops with it. The attempts at narrative drama and tension fall painfully flat in the face of the scene prior, wherein Hartnett may have just stuck a guy to the ceiling by his head and left him there. This isn’t a matter of style over substance (there’s a real discussion to be had there), this is style with no substance, whatsoever. It just doesn’t work, despite the spurts of fun that make the experience digestible.
While it isn’t the worst movie you’ll watch this year, Fight or Flight will likely have you checking your watch in between the shots and screams that fill the wordless segments of the screenplay. There isn’t much to get butts in seats the first time around, let alone anything to draw audiences back for subsequent watches. If you’re a “Hartnett Head” (patent pending) it may be worth the watch. But otherwise, you can catch the next flight out of town.