THE STORY – A mercenary takes on the job of tracking down a target on a plane, but must protect her when they’re surrounded by people trying to kill both of them.
THE CAST – Josh Hartnett, Charithra Chandran, Katie Sackhoff, Julian Kostov, Marko Zaror & Rebecka Johnston
THE TEAM – James Madigan (Director), Brooks McLauren & D. J. Cotrona (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 97 Minutes
It’s a great feeling to witness the second life of Josh Hartnett’s movie stardom in real-time. It felt like the former heartthrob was everywhere in the early 2000s, working with prominent filmmakers such as Ridley Scott and Sofia Coppola. Then, like plenty of actors, it seemed like he was cast aside from the spotlight. It’s not that Hartnett stopped working, but his career slowly morphed into him becoming a more than capable supporting player instead of number one on the call sheet. It felt like things began to change, thanks to Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.“ Now, a new generation has found its way to his work. Hartnett seems ready to take advantage of this moment, popping up in many notable projects such as M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap“ and even guest acting on the Emmy award-winning series “The Bear.“ With his new film, “Fight or Flight,“ Hartnett is ready to go completely go-for-broke action junkie, and it’s safe to say he’s fully relishing in the absurdity of it all. Sadly, everything else about James Madigan’s directorial debut is nowhere near as fun as the performance Hartnett brings to it.
In “Fight or Flight,“ we find Hartnett’s unkept former Secret Service agent, Lucas Reyes (donning a look that will undoubtedly do wonders for many of the actor’s fans), passed out in the streets of Thailand. Considered the “roguishly handsome blonde,“ Lucas reeks of booze and desperation as the Hawaiian shirt-donning agent drinks away his days in dive bars, escaping the pain of how his life turned out within the past few years. Audiences are immediately cued into the wavelength Hartnett is operating on with his frequent manic outbursts and slapstick reactions to what transpires around him. Luckily for Lucas, out of the blue, he’s given a second shot to change his life for the better when the mysterious Katherine Brunt (Katie Sackhoff) is urgently in need of his services to intercept a high-value target named “Ghost“ and bring them into custody in one piece.
What turns into a layup of an extraction job leads Lucas to be surrounded by some of the most deadly killers in an aircraft 30,000 ft above the ground. It’s a premise that isn’t anything unique but inserts this film among a reputable group of genre flicks where the central location is a playground of calamity for our protagonist to cause havoc. Comparisons will most certainly be tied to David Leitch’s 2022 film, “Bullet Train,“ from the one-location setting to the type of performance Madigan elicits from Hartnett. Say whatever about Leitch, but at least he’s a filmmaker who can efficiently use his action leads to create somewhat effective physical comedy.
This film most certainly wants to attain that same vein of comedy, having a screenplay fueled with a juvenile sense of humor that is often eye-rolling. Madigan has Hartnett going all out for the sake of physical dedication to score a couple of chuckles. Occasionally, it does work, mainly a moment involving a fight sequence in the airplane bathroom and an oddly placed sprinkler. Every other time, Madigan and the writers fail to conjure up quality laughs as audiences are treated to sequences filled with over-the-top bloody kills and drug trips set to a rambunctious score by Paul Saunderson.
Funnily enough, the most humorous thing about “Fight or Flight“ is that it joins the short yet sadly growing list of films where the world’s troubles are aimed to be solved with the power of cryptocurrency. Madigan’s debut shines when it’s purely just watching Hartnett duke it out amidst the chaotic energy, even if behind every frame that’s transpiring beneath the film comes off as so frenziedly flattened. Even Madigan enlisting the help of “The Raid“ cinematographer Matt Flannery doesn’t do much but only cement it as pale in comparison to the films that have very much inspired him.
As mentioned earlier, the greatest strength of “Fight or Flight“ is Hartnett’s wholly committed performance, making the movie far more watchable than it is. Hartnett is no stranger to gravitating towards a performance that lets him embrace his underutilized comedic chops. This performance may not reach the heights or be as uniquely layered as his work in last year’s “Trap,“ but it’s certainly up to par for the manic energy Madigan is infusing “Fight or Flight“ with. Hartnett very much understands what type of film this is, yet his ability to go above and beyond is much appreciated, especially here. The only other performance in “Fight or Flight” worth noting is Charithra Chandran’s Isha, a flight attendant with more fight in her than one would expect. Chandran’s repertoire with Hartnett works well, especially as their characters bond over the course of this deadly flight out of Bangkok International.
It’s also quite shocking how a film that is essentially empty-calorie filmmaking could still feel unsatisfying, as the ending of “Fight or Flight“ feels quite abrupt. Madigan leaves audiences with a tease for what’s to come, and if it wasn’t for Hartnett having the time of his life, audiences wouldn’t have much time to decide if they want to return to see the bloody hijinks of Lucas Reyes again. “Fight or Flight“ is a film that, on paper, could be considered anyone’s idea of a good time at the movies, but seeing Hartnett in a film that isn’t up to par with what he’s delivering can only be summed up as a disappointment.
