r/moviecritic • u/Seraphenigma • 1d ago
Flight (2012) is the best movie in the 21st century about addiction
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u/Oldgraytomahawk 1d ago
As a recovering alcoholic, It hit pretty hard. I didn’t get to his rock bottom but I got to mine.31 years and going strong
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u/--thingsfallapart-- 1d ago
That's kind of harrowing as someone still drinking, that after 31 years you still can't call yourself a recovered alcoholic. Just shows how fucking deep it gets it's hooks in.
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u/Oldgraytomahawk 1d ago
I know that I can NEVER drink alcohol. It’s sad but it’s better than the alternative. Addiction is a mfer.
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u/UtahUtopia 1d ago
John Goodman scene before senate hearing is one of my favorite scenes EVER!!!
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u/Sedert1882 1d ago
I was so angry at Denzel's character during the film. Then I realised the film was damn good.
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u/ToeCtter 1d ago
Or maybe Leaving Las Vegas.
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u/Beard_Science6614 1d ago
One of Cage’s best movies but I do believe not the 21st century. The absolute crazy amount that he drank showed a barely functional side of alcoholism that was crazy. Flight showed a functional yet hollow person. Different in their own rite but equally sad.
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u/JCrook023 1d ago
I 100% agree, but Leaving Las Vegas is in the 20th century- 94 or 95 I believe
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u/ToeCtter 1d ago
Very true. Apologies.
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u/JCrook023 1d ago
Haha no apologies necessary! That movie portrays ADDICTION way more than Flight! At least Denzel recovers 🤷🏼♂️
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u/According_Earth4742 1d ago
I’ve never seen a better portrayal of that level of extreme alcoholism. If I hadn’t known people exactly like him I’d have thought it was cartoonish and unrealistic. But it’s very real
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u/arghhharghhh 1d ago
I read the book years after. So beautiful and heartbreaking. The story is that it's semi autobiographical. The author killed himself when the movie got picked up.
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u/booferino30 1d ago
Requiem for a Dream unfortunately wrapped that one up in the first year of the century
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u/According_Earth4742 1d ago
Requiem for a dream is reefer madness for heroin. It’s technically very well made but it’s miserable and melodramatic and not a good portrayal of the life of a typical addict. Trainspotting was a much more realistic portrayal of the average heroin addict. Not a hyped up worst case scenario misery fest like requiem
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u/Even-Bid1808 1d ago
Worst case is you just OD and die 3 weeks into using
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u/SleipnirSolid 1d ago
I'd consider that the best case. You die, quick, relatively healtjy and happy/high.
Worst case is an extended period of extreme suffering. Loss of friends, family, health, money and home. Freezing, obese, covered in sores in a gutter soaked in your own piss with an impacted bowel.
Christ - OD after 3 weeks would be paradise in comparison.
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u/Thankkratom2 20h ago
As an addict I totally disagree. I like being alive, and I have learned to work past the trauma of the years of addiction that I went through. My addiction put me through horrific trauma, but I am alive and thriving and that’s something far greater than having died three weeks into my use.
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u/BaronvonBrick 1d ago
... the dead baby isn't worst case scenario?
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u/According_Earth4742 1d ago
Fair enough. Im just saying in general Trainspotting depicted the whole thing much better than requiem. Speaking from experience here.
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u/booferino30 1d ago
I agree that Trainspotting was probably more realistic, but it’s more a movie about addiction than heroin specifically to me - Ellen Burstyn’s character is more addicted to the idea of being young than anything else
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u/According_Earth4742 1d ago
Yeah but like that scenario is the most unrealistic out of all of them. Not the mindset that led to her getting there but the situation itself.
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u/Thankkratom2 20h ago
As a recovering IV drug addict I agree 100%.
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u/According_Earth4742 20h ago
People who were actually IV drug users know it comes across like a DARE ad. People who don’t know about that life think it’s the most realistic portrayal of drug use on film.
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u/timetravel2000 1d ago
That movie was released in 2000, which is technically the 20th century. 2001 starts the 21st as the 1st year.
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u/alexinpoison 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm a drug addict and I didn't like Requiem
It has to look fun to ... want to do that. Like. That movie does not make it look fun at all and I know duh that's the point, but I mean you have to make it look fun a bit otherwise why would someone keep taking this non-fun thing over and over by choice until they became addicted to it
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u/Nateosis 1d ago
Return of the King came out in 2003, though
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u/chiefs_fan37 1d ago
”And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power.”
Power is pretty damn addicting apparently
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u/TemperatureTime1617 1d ago
The scene when he’s lying in the hospital and he asks if they’re gonna take blood and is told they already did, imagine what’s going through his mind right then.
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u/ddoogiehowitzerr 1d ago
The scene where he broke down and drank vodka straight from the bottle in his car , the look in his eyes. Oof that hit home
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u/oOBuckoOo 1d ago
The name’s Harling, I’m on the list. John Goodman killed his 10 minutes in this film. And Denzel, well, nuff said.
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u/Mell1997 1d ago
Uncut Gems?
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u/beeker888 1d ago
Same directors.
Heaven Knows What
Started a lot of actual addicts. Probably the most accurate portrayal of addiction I’ve seen
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u/mderoest 1d ago
Beautiful Boy had a stronger impact on me. To each their own though
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u/TheOnlyGlamMoore 1d ago
And how is that about addiction?
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u/ingoding 1d ago
I loved that it was a drama, but opens with a big action scene, a lesser director could not have pulled that off.
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u/old_ass_ninja_turtle 1d ago
Actually, I learned a lot from it. I learned if I am super drunk/hung over. I just need some blow. I was not aware of this cheat codeZ
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u/Kevdoor54 1d ago
Owning Mahowny. Philip Seymour Hoffman at his finest. John Hurt is also brilliant. Unreal film about gambling addiction
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u/alexinpoison 1d ago
I love Flight, check out Half Nelson (movie) and Patrick Melrose (short limited series)
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u/Charming-Froyo2642 1d ago
How? I don’t get it? My man had unbelievable piloting capabilities and not only can no longer do that (which was his only real contribution to society, passion, and livelihood), he lost everything else to go with it too.
And this is somehow supposed to be a hero story? WTF?
Dude just shut up. Lie about it. Keep on drinking and flying like a baus like you always have, and buy your son dope fucking presents like a car or a house which he will thank you for every day. Instead of a prison sob story that he’s gonna forget about later that night while he smokes a doobie with his buddies after having dinner with YOUR WIFE, his mom, and her new fuck buddy.
Like was there a single person that thought this story was even remotely credible as a success story for the main character?
He won the internal conflict (that we know of, so far) but lost the external conflict so badly that it didn’t even matter
AT THE VERY FUCKING LEAST, give us some assurance that his relationship with his son is fully healed and will be deep and long-lasting
Because fuck, otherwise this movie is basically just saying “keep being an addict, you’re better off”
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u/ttaylo28 1d ago
See Another Round?
I'd second Shame.
..fine Requiem for a Dream too, but it feels sooooo 90's to me.
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u/PrimarchKonradCurze 1d ago
Denzel also played an alcoholic in Man on Fire- which I like more even though I’m a pilot (there’s some ridiculous stuff in Flight).
Requiem for a Dream is a big addiction movie, and Lord of War also portrays trouble with addiction.
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u/Drakeytown 1d ago
Flight is the best movie about alcohol being bad and cocaine solving all your problems.
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u/BluffingTrips 1d ago
My super Christian parents went to see this in theaters thinking it was like a "Sully" type movie, they walked out after the first 10 min or so... shame.
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u/Captain_Pink_Pants 1d ago
Flight was good, but Requiem for a Dream is the best movie in the 21st century about addiction.
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u/Bananarama_Vison 1d ago
The bottle on the fridge makes the movie for me. Cause this is what reality is…
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u/JackKovack 1d ago
The crazy thing is that if he wasn’t high I don’t think he would have pulled it off.
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u/Fair-Comfort7705 1d ago
Denzel to the Flight Director.. “tell your son you love him” .. as a former F/A with 2 grown up sons, it’s just one of those lines in a movie. YYZ
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u/griffnuts__ 23h ago
As an addict, this is absolutely right. Alcohol being my easiest and most accessible vice of choice, and at the time working in a high pressure environment that involved lots of overnight hotel stays, the ease you can tell yourself you’re fine when you’re not is frightening. When he throws all the booze away after the crash, I was worried that it was going to be a very analogue portrayal of addiction. Problem, crisis, problem solved but boy was I wrong. The relapses, the disgust, the incredible highs and sadistic lows are in equal parts a joy and painful to watch. Highly recommended.
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u/MrKicks01 20h ago
There are definitely different types of addiction like flight did a great job exploring alcohol and shame with sex addiction. Perhaps a spoiler but the film that hit me hardest with my own struggles was a film called bliss (2021).
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u/Beard_Science6614 1d ago
“A Star is Born” was much more so in my opinion. Both are sad and you can take a bit from each.
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u/Jj9567 1d ago
Don Cheadle and Denzel are a good duo