Fight or Flight Movie Review

“Fight or Flight” is the action/thriller you didn’t know you needed… but must watch immediately. ​

One of the first things you see scroll across the screen during the trailer is “From the producers of John Wick.” Watching, you can tell because the film has the same feeling as Wick, but it’s campier, which is a reason to treasure it. Every moment is more engaging than the one before. The movie opens with an airplane packed to the gills with people fighting to the “The Blue Danube” waltz, which I’ve seen Looney Tunes use better than almost anyone. It’s nice to see it used again in such a comical way.

Josh Hartnett plays Lucas Reyes, an exiled American agent, is tasked with finding a high-value target named “The Ghost,” a Blackhat terrorist, impossible to find. Thinking the mission difficult, he tells Katherine Brunt (Sackhoff), who needs him for the gig, “You’re stitching together the parachute as we fall from the sky.” She hates that he knows this. It’s a fitting line. I tell you this because it’s all you need to hear to pique your interest. No longer in the agency, his life in ruins, she offers his life back if he delivers the mark. Something he doesn’t know upon agreeing to the mission is that the massive, double-decker plane is filled with killers after the same mark. They’ll do anything for the bounty. Like him, no one knows who the target is or what he looks like. Everyone is a suspect. Needless to say, there will come a point when he’s fighting almost everyone to find the target and bring them in.

It’s a reasonably uncomplicated storyline, not original in the slightest, but one you need. It’s silly, a playful caper, and Hartnett is delicious in the role. He needed this, and unbeknownst to you, you needed him. Not only him, but the flight crew and the mark, when he, as you suspected, finds out who it is. Through it all, he somehow becomes a target himself, fighting for his life as the bodies start piling up.

He’s assisted by flight attendant, Garret (Hughie O’Donnell). Garret finds a situation with a passenger from first class, unable to handle life coming at her for a moment, just as tricky as he does the death that surrounds him. Female assassins come from nowhere, and suddenly we’re in a Kung Fu movie. It’s spectacular. There are only so many ways you can kill people on a plane, but the filmmakers here are clever enough to keep you involved and continuously intrigued.

By the way, thank goodness for autopilot. This would have been a very short film if it hadn’t been invented. Speaking of inventions, the creation of a special device is what this all comes down to. A device worth billions, giving the owner of it all the power and money they could ever want. I don’t want to give everything away, outside of the violence, obviously, but I will let you know part two is on its way. I’ll watch for Hartnett and his chemistry with actress Charithra Chandran (Isha) alone. This type of movie is their niche! I wonder what they’ll come up with for these characters in the next one.

Until then, I’ll have to watch this again… just for fun. It’s out at theaters everywhere this weekend. I recommend it highly for its frivolous charm, you won’t soon forget.