Film Review: FLIGHT RISK (2025): Mel Gibson’s Thriller is Highly Enjoyable Despite a Few Major Plot Holes

Flight Risk Review

Flight Risk (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Mel Gibson, written by Jared Rosenberg and starring Michelle Dockery, Mark Wahlberg, Topher Grace, Monib Abhat, Paul Ben-Victor, Maaz Ali, Eilise Patton, Savanah Joeckel, Georgi S. Georgiev and Atanas Srebrev.

Mel Gibson directs a wild and crazed Mark Wahlberg in an unconventional and truly elevated thriller, Flight Risk. This new film is about a criminal witness (Topher Grace) on board a small plane who has to be returned safely to land by a Marshal (Michelle Dockery) in order for Grace’s character to testify against a vicious mob leader. A few of the major plot twists were revealed in the trailer but there’s still enough suspense and thrills to keep less-demanding moviegoers quite entertained throughout.

Michelle Dockery is the hero of this movie. She plays the Marshal named Madolyn with tremendous appeal. Dockery keeps us rooting for her in this role over the course of the whole movie which takes place mostly in the sky as Wahlberg’s character (called “Daryl” in the credits) tries to throw a wrench in Madolyn’s plan to get the fugitive, Winston (Grace), to safety in order for him to eventually take the stand.

When we first meet “Daryl,” he’s supposedly the pilot of the plane. He promises to get Madolyn and Winston to their destination within 90 minutes or so. When Winston sees the ID of the real pilot under a seat in the plane, he tries to warn Madolyn until “Daryl” eventually reveals he’s flying the plane to make sure Winston doesn’t testify. Madolyn is revealed to have a secret past on this flight as Wahlberg eventually gets a pair of handcuffs on him which remain on for much of the picture.

Topher Grace is a real revelation in the role of Winston. He keeps the audience from making judgements about the criminal activity the character has engaged in. Instead, we end up rooting for him too and start to hope Madolyn can get him to safety despite the crime Winston has committed.

One of the cornier aspects of Flight Risk is the voice of a guy who tries to guide Madolyn to safety when she ends up flying the plane. He starts to get flirtatious with Madolyn and, perhaps, this material felt a little dumb for this movie considering that the characters are in a life-or-death situation. That silliness is nothing compared to a couple of the plot holes that are found towards the film’s conclusion which ruin the picture’s credibility just a tad.

That doesn’t mean that Gibson doesn’t keep the viewer in total suspense as Wahlberg tries to wiggle his wrist through the handcuffs and get back control of the aircraft. There are some interesting plot twists that make the film even better than it has any right to be, believable or not. One can end up second guessing every major plot point until the movie goes all-in for an exciting climax on the landing runway.

A few key scenes have the plane almost crash-landing in the mountains. These parts are nerve-wracking to watch, and Gibson stages these scenes in a way that should keep viewers glued to their seats. Dockery is so perfect in her part that when Madolyn discovers that some people on ground who she trusted could be villains, we almost want to see Madolyn chart her own course to land. This film doesn’t actually go that exact route, but it still takes a reliably entertaining course as the movie goes through a few scenes of nail-biting suspense which could make people afraid of heights close their eyes on a couple of occasions. This is also a fun aspect of the movie that makes it even more suspenseful.

Wahlberg is presented as the lead here because the actor plays his character to the max, adding genuine creepiness and disgust to the part. Wahlberg ultimately plays second-fiddle to the excellent Dockery, though, who doesn’t disappoint with her genuine and natural feeling performance. You’ll be right with her character as she tries to take control of a very unnerving situation. Madolyn bonds with Winston, too, and ultimately becomes so invested in helping him that she desperately tries to land the plane to safety to get him medical attention after Wahlberg’s character stabs him.

In the end, who cares about the several plot holes the movie has? This picture doesn’t successfully tie up the loose ends at all but how could it really do that given the major plot twists it presents to the viewer? A film like this will only work if you completely suspend disbelief and if you do that, you’re bound to enjoy this suspenseful ride. One may not buy the ending but getting there is a very intense movie-going experience. Despite some minor turbulence, Flight Risk is ultimately a pretty tense suspense picture. It’s a thrill ride you’ll want to take if you love fast-paced thrillers with plenty of twisty reveals along the way.

Rating: 7/10

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