It amazes me that, 20 years after the fact, marketing teams are still afraid to advertise a film as “From Director Mel Gibson.” I can somewhat understand when Hacksaw Ridge was released, and it was somewhat of a way for him to get back into Hollywood without immediate tongue-lashing from the critics. But, in 2025, and after having received acclaim and award nominations for Hacksaw Ridge, studios are still listing him as “the director of Braveheart” and other films. And, I mean, he’s been around for nearly 50 years at this point. I’m sure most people know of him by now.
Buy Flight Risk 4K UHDAs for his latest film, Flight Risk, it’s one that you may not immediately think he would attach himself to directing. His most successful directorial efforts have had some historical element to them. But people seem to forget that Gibson also directed the underseen drama The Man without a Face, so he’s able to venture off into different territories when called to do so.
Flight Risk is Gibson’s first directorial foray into the action thriller genre, and it’s reminiscent of the lower quality, disposable ’90s films that came and went in theaters. I’m thinking of Hard Rain, Daylight, and the majority of Steven Seagal’s catalogue. But there’s something slightly different about Gibson’s film that makes it somewhat more appealing. It’s certainly not great, but it works.
Michelle Dockery plays U.S. Marshal Madolyn Harris, who is tasked with transporting a wanted fugitive named Winston (Topher Grace) to Anchorage, Alaska to testify against his former employer, the Moretti crime family. Their pilot is a man named Daryl (Mark Wahlberg), who has that hillbilly, good-ol’-boy-from-Texas touch and flies a rickety, could-break-at-any-moment crop duster with a supposedly busted radio. But there’s something suspicious about Daryl, as Madolyn starts noticing random marks on him that don’t seem to belong. It turns out, this man known only as Daryl is also employed by the Moretti crime family, and he is assigned to kill Winston.
The script by Jared Rosenberg, who – as mentioned in the special features – wrote it during the lockdowns, takes all the derivatives you can think of when it comes to plot twists and corny dialogue. So much of it is recycled, and yet the cast is able to work with all the silliness. Take Wahlberg, for example. His goofy accent is somewhat believable. When his true identity is revealed, the accent is dropped (“Daryl,” as he’s known, is not from Texas, nor does he have a southern accent), and his native voice comes to the forefront – sounding more like the countless, over-the-top imitators of Mark Wahlberg saying silly lines rather than the actual Wahlberg himself. Oh, and he wears a toupee just because. It’s wildly ridiculous.
For being a wanted fugitive, Grace’s Winston is the biggest pansy you’ll come across – cowering into a corner when Daryl’s identity is revealed and avoiding any type of conflict. Grace has always been cast as the oddball type (yes, even as Venom in Spider-Man 3), so this isn’t a serious departure, but his shrieks and shrills are amusing to watch.
Flight Risk makes an attempt to be captured in a real-time setting, being only 93 minutes in runtime and having a moment where Daryl says how long it will take for them to arrive to Anchorage. And there are some moments where the tightness works. But it becomes a minor chore when characters are given such atrocious lines of dialogue, and key moments that are supposed to make the audience cheer are routine and expected.
I can’t entirely fault the film, though, as dumb as it is. It’s silly entertainment with a few moments that work just well enough to warrant a recommendation. But don’t expect it to be a conversation starter, unless it’s with other B-movie enthusiasts.
The 4K UHD only comes with a making-of featurette and the theatrical trailer in its bonus material, but the image and sound quality come across clean. It’s worthy of a pickup if you’re a Gibson fan, or you just want something silly to have on.
