Mel Gibson is back in the director’s chair, for the first time since his 2016 Oscar-nominated WWII film “Hacksaw Ridge.”
What I know about “Flight Risk,” based on a test screening that occurred a few weeks back, is that it’s violent and VERY entertaining. I wouldn’t expect anything else from Mad Mel.
We now have a trailer, and it features a balding Mark Wahlberg who plays the film’s psychopathic villain. For obvious reasons, Gibson’s name isn’t mentioned in the trailer, instead we get a “From the Academy-Award Winning Director of ..”
Lionsgate, the studio behind ‘Hacksaw’ is backing “Flight Risk” which has Wahlberg’s mob hitman tricking a federal agent into allowing him to pilot a plane carrying an FBI informant (Topher Grace) out of a remote area.
Gibson, as a director, has never been one to shy away from gore: “The Passion of the Christ” “Braveheart,” “Hacksaw Ridge” and, his best work, “Apocalypto,” are four extremely violent films. Like him or not, Gibson has proven himself to be a very good filmmaker these last three decades. He even won a Best Director Oscar for 1995’s “Braveheart.”
“Flight Risk,” which will likely nab a hard R rating, is scheduled for theatrical release on October 18, 2024. A prime fall slot that will see it pitted that same weekend against Paramount’s “Smile 2.”