Brawls at 30,000 Feet: How Fight or Flight Fights More Than Terror

Fight or Flight hasn't been on my radar for very long. I only heard about this film about a month or two ago, but when I did, it instantly landed on my must-watch list. It's an action comedy starring one of my favorite actors in the business, and that was more than enough to catch my attention. As I've said before, I'm a big fan of this genre mashup, so I was excited to see how the movie would turn out. I booked a seat for opening night as soon as I got the chance, and now that I've finally seen it, I'm happy to report that it's a total blast.

Fight or Flight was directed by James Madigan, and it stars Josh Hartnett, Charithra Chandran, Julian Kostov, and Katee Sackhoff. In the film, the FBI is hot on the heels of an internationally wanted terrorist known only as the Ghost, and they’ve finally tracked this mysterious criminal to an airport in Bangkok. The Ghost is about to board a plane headed for San Francisco, but unfortunately, the FBI can’t get a team there fast enough to arrest the target.

Instead, they’re forced to call on a man named Lucas Reyes, a drunken mercenary who’s been hiding in the city for two years. After a bit of nudging, Reyes grudgingly accepts the job, but soon after he gets on the plane, he learns that many of the passengers are assassins looking to cash in on the enormous bounty on the Ghost’s head.

If you’re a big movie fan, that plot probably sounds more than a little familiar. It’s not exactly the most original story in the world, but that’s okay. The big draw here is the way Fight or Flight tells its well-worn tale, and on that count, the film is a total home run. Let’s start with the main character.

Lucas Reyes is played by Josh Hartnett, and if you’re familiar with this guy’s work, you won’t be surprised to hear that he’s excellent in the role. Hartnett brings every ounce of the signature charm that’s made him such a beloved performer for decades, so from the moment we first meet Lucas, he has the kind of magnetic presence that makes it nearly impossible to look away whenever he's on screen.

That being said, I don’t think anybody ever pegged Hartnett for an action star, but despite his lack of experience in this genre, he won me over very quickly. He totally nails the subtly tough, almost nonchalant demeanor of a guy who knows he can do more than just hold his own in a fight, and when it finally comes time to throw down, he does not disappoint.

Hartnett isn’t a martial artist, so don’t expect high-flying kicks or crazy spin moves, but he convincingly pulls off the kind of hand-to-hand combat you’d expect from a man with US government training. To be fair, there are a couple of brief shots where you can tell he’s just executing a series of pre-planned strikes and throws, but for the most part, the guy makes you believe that he really is a trained killer fighting for his life.

However, the biggest surprise here isn’t Josh Hartnett’s action chops. In my opinion, it’s the way Fight or Flight shoots its action scenes. See, American movies have a tendency to chop up their fights with a million cuts, and that often makes the action hard to follow. But thankfully, director James Madigan doesn’t fall into that trap. He makes sure you can clearly see every punch, kick, and slam in the film, so you’ll have no trouble at all appreciating the artistry that goes into choreographing and executing these dances with death.

My one issue with the action in Fight or Flight is that a couple of shots go a bit too heavy on the gore. Don’t get me wrong, I like my fight scenes to be realistically bloody and violent, but there are moments when this movie starts to feel more like a horror flick than an action film. The focus shifts from the fights themselves to the injuries those fights inflict on their combatants, and in my opinion, that’s simply not where the emphasis should lie in a movie like this.

Thankfully though, the vast majority of the action here is a total blast, but that’s only half the battle. Like I said before, this is an action comedy, so it has to make you laugh as well. And once again, the film knocks it out of the park. Granted, Fight or Flight leans much more towards the action side of that genre mashup, but it still garnered a number of big laughs from my crowd. There’s more than enough great humor here to inject the experience with a sense of joy that’s often lacking in action flicks, so if you’re a fan of action comedies, you’re sure to walk away with a big smile on your face.

Last but not least, I want to talk a bit about the deeper themes of Fight or Flight. Admittedly, this movie is primarily concerned with being fun, so it doesn’t have a ton of storytelling depth. But somewhat surprisingly, the little bit it does have is actually pretty important. I can’t say too much without giving away some of the film’s secrets, but I can tell you that it deals with human trafficking and the harsh realities of slave labor in our world today.

It highlights the distressing fact that our supply chains–especially for the electronic gadgets and gizmos we place so much value in–are often infected with this malicious evil, and I really appreciated that message. Sure, the movie doesn’t propose any answers to this seemingly insoluble problem, but at least it can help make people more aware of the issue.

At the end of the day, I can’t quite say that Fight or Flight is one of the best films of the year. It doesn’t have enough thematic heft to reach those heights, but I still had a great time with it. It’s an absolute blast with just enough moral substance to hit home, so if this sounds like something you’d enjoy, I highly recommend that you check it out.