Fight or Flight is a brisk and exciting ride, despite narrative turbulence
The Josh Hartnett renaissance (Hart-naissance?) continues! From his supporting role in Oppenheimer and his cameo in The Bear, to the hammy lead role in last summer’s Trap, Hartnett is making moves to reclaim a movie star status he relished in the late ‘90s to early ‘00s. And, he seems to be loving every minute of it, taking on an assortment of roles: straight men, serial killers, and action heroes. Hartnett’s charm and underused physicality is on full display in Fight or Flight, a flawed B-movie thriller with a high level of violent choreography and cheeky humor.
Hartnett plays Lucas Reyes, an ex-secret service agent who is suddenly yanked out of a 2-year binge-drinking-while-on-the-run purgatory in Bangkok in order to identify and secure a human target, known only as the “Ghost,” on a flight from Bangkok to San Francisco. The target’s travel plans are leaked on the dark web, leading to an assortment of global assassins also present on the flight, vying to kill the “Ghost” and Reyes in the process. I’m still confused by the intentions and goals of Reyes’ ex-girlfriend and handler, Katherine (Katee Sackhoff). When Fight or Flight cuts to convoluted scenes at a generic mission control room (with a giant screen showing lots of video feeds and maps!) with Katherine and her subordinates, the film loses steam. Luckily, most of the brisk 95 minute run time is spent with Hartnett on the compromised plane ride, where he drinks and fights and bleeds, and manages to be charming while doing all three.
Fight or Flight benefits from a substantial amount of self-awareness. The plethora of assassins are ridiculous – comprising various nationalities, weapons of choice, and fighting styles, the plot is fanciful (like John Wick meets Bullet Train…on a plane), and the script makes no effort to explain how or why things occur (ex. how so many weapons got on board). We’re not supposed to be thinking while watching Fight or Flight. When Fight or Flight slows down to give context to a situation, the film suffers. On the flip side, the abundance of scenes where Hartnett brutally battles from one to a dozen assassins at a time, the film soars. The fight choreography is electric, inventive, hilarious, and features a few gnarly deaths that I can’t recall ever seeing before. Fight or Flight is all brawn, no brain, and all the better for it. The filmmakers use two not-too-subtle scenes to make a statement about corporate power and overreach, and those moments are poorly written and lazily executed. Luckily, these two scenes fly by and out of mind quickly. Lastly, on a personal note, I was recently on a flight with Josh Hartnett, and I’m very relieved that the events of Fight or Flight didn’t take place.
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Fight or Flight opens in theaters Friday, May 9th.
