Tag Archives: mel-gibson

Flight Risk

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Mel Gibson has fallen quite a bit since Hacksaw Ridge almost ten years ago.

His new directorial work, Flight Risk, is a silly, 90’s style action movie that produced as many eye rolls as it did action moments. I have to say though that I did not hate this movie. It was just not very good.

According to IMDB, “In this high-stakes suspense thriller, Academy Award® nominee Mark Wahlberg plays a pilot transporting an Air Marshal (Michelle Dockery) accompanying a fugitive (Topher Grace) to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.“

Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace were both decent in their roles and they both made me care about their characters, even though they both did really stupid things that if you would take five seconds to think about, you would do something different.

Mark Wahlberg is a long way from an Academy Award nominee in this role. He is so over the top that he was tough to watch.

Of course, we all knew what the situation was, because this film gave it to us in the trailers. Wahlberg was a hitman trying to kill Topher Grace, who was turning state’s evidence.

There was a leak storyline that was probably the dumbest of the storylines. When it was just the three of them in the airplane, the movie was much better. Dockery’s character, Madolyn, was so mistrusting of everyone, except one that I would have started to doubt immediately.

There were some funny moments, mostly from Topher Grace, but nothing that was going to make this a better movie. It was not a satire or a parody. It was just trying to be a dumb action movie. With that as a goal, the film is a success.

I did not hate myself for watching this, but I would not recommend anyone go out to the theater to see Flight Risk. You see most of the movie in the trailer anyway. However, this would not be the worst film on a lazy weekend on streaming.

2.8 stars

Monster Summer

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Monster Summer has a feel to it like this is an 80s film, a mixture of Monster Squad, Hocus Pocus and The Sandlot, but without taking any of the good parts.

From IMDB, “When a mysterious force begins to disrupt their big summer fun, Noah and his friends team up with a retired police detective to embark on a monstrous adventure to save their island.“

I had heard almost nothing about this movie. and you can see why. Mel Gibson appears in the film as former detective Gene, who is almost a recluse. Gibson did not feel like he fit in this type of a role.

The main protagonist of the film is Noah, played by Mason Thames. Thames starred in The Black Phone, but I spent the entire movie trying to place him. I swear he looked like he has so many traits of Omri Katz, the star of Eerie, Indiana and Hocus Pocus, that I kept thinking that he could be Katz’s son. It was distracting, even though Thames was fine in the role.

The writing of this movie was really weak. It had several moments that were just too hokey or poorly executed that even a few of the moments that were not bad were overshadowed by the poor parts.

I tend to like these kind of kids adventure films, but this just did not do enough well to recommend this film. Mason Thames is likable enough, but there is just not enough around him to make this worthwhile, even during spooky movie season.

2.4 stars