Fight or Flight

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★1/2

Rated: MA15+

Directed by:  James Madigan

Written by: Brooks McLaren, D. J. Cotrona

Produced by: Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Tai Duncan, Christopher Milburn

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Charithra Chandran, Katee Sackhoff.

‘He’s a bloody maniac in pink,’ because Lucas Reyes (Josh Hartnett) has swapped clothes with a taxi driver who is more than polite.  He’s got wet towels to wipe the blood from Lucas’ face.

Fight or Flight opens on a plane, flying overhead.

The clouds open to a window into the plane and the ensuing mayhem, including a freewheeling chainsaw.

Twelve hours earlier, we see Lucas in a drunken stupor in a tuk-tuk in Bangkok.

It’s and morning and time for an Irish coffee.

But a call from, ‘Absolute Fucking Cu’ changes all that because the black hat terrorist known as, The Ghost is just about to board a plane and there’s no one on the ground left in Bangkok to bring The Ghost in.  Except Lucas.

Fight or Flight is a tongue-in-cheek bloody action movie that has Lucas drunk, high and fighting his way through a plane filled with assassins in pursuit of the terrorist who shafted them all.

Think air hostesses drugging first class passengers with Ambien because, ‘she was traumatised from being in economy class.’

It’s not so much the dialogue that’s funny but the facial expressions and delivery, ‘Do you need medical assistance?’

‘I’ve been air sick,’ says Lucas putting on his innocent face after stuffing a would-be assassin in the overhead ceiling of a bathroom.

The storyline isn’t obvious but there aren’t any surprises either.  The film is an action movie with fight scenes filled with breaking bones, overhead sprinklers through craniums left with chunks of brain while Lucas fights in navy blue pjs that are too small for him.

There’s a fun soundtrack from Paul Saunderson to back those fight scenes, and Josh Hartnett has that maniac look down pat.  Was a shame his eyes weren’t dialed to add to that crazy drugged, maniac persona – the film lost some authenticity there – but I liked Josh Hartnett in this role.

Was also good to see Katee Sackhoff leading as the villainous Katherine Brunt.

Although Fight or Flight is a fast-paced bloody thriller, there’s nothing that threw me here.  Just an entertainer that’s fun to watch without getting too serious about it.