This weekend, there were two films that I wanted to see, but was not overly excited about either of them.  They all looked solid, if not spectacular, and that basically summarizes my ultimate choice.  The one I thought I would go for, and you could probably guess it if you are aware of the latest releases and my cinematic tendencies, was Brave the Dark.  It was produced by Angel Studios, the same company that brought us Sound of Freedom (2023) and Cabrini (2024).  The former of those stars prominent Catholic Jim Caviezel, and the latter is about one of the first American saints, Mother Cabrini (Cristiana Dell’Anna).  Brave the Dark is another socially conscious film from those same people, the trailers suggesting that it is about a teacher mentoring a troubled teen.  That is typical fodder for The Legionnaire.  Yet, the other choice was Flight Risk.  It has another well-known member of the Faith in it, Mark Wahlberg, albeit playing the villain, and is directed by one of his fellow communicants, Mel Gibson (though his status is complicated).  More importantly, its lead is Michelle Dockery.  She plays Lady Mary Crawley in Downton Abbey (2010-2015), my favorite character in one of my favorite shows.  With all this in mind, could I go wrong in picking Flight Risk?

The only Flight Risk is Winston (Topher Grace), though you would not know it from his introduction.  He is alone in a dingy Alaskan hotel room attempting to heat up a cup of noodles in a barely functioning microwave.  He is startled by the rumblings of a moose outside.  One might expect to see such an animal in our northern most state, but he is extra jumpy because he is on the lam.  He is trying to evade Moretti (not pictured), the mafia boss he had been skimming illicit gains from as an accountant for organized crime, as well as hiding out from law enforcement.  It is the latter of those two entities that find him first, led by United States Marshal Madelyn Harris (Michelle Dockery).  As soon as she bursts through the door, the panicky Winston is pleading to make a deal to testify against Moretti in exchange for immunity from prosecution.  Thus, it is time to catch the nearest plane to Anchorage in order to get him to the proper authorities and into a courtroom.  This involves taking a small, two engine vessel, a little bigger than a crop duster, over the mountains on a roughly hour and a half flight.  Their pilot is Daryl Booth (Mark Wahlberg), whose talkative nature about the wilds of Alaskan aviation and Southern drawl eventually puts Marshal Harris at ease.  The person who is not relaxing is Winston.  Aside from the rickety conveyance, he notices early on that Daryl is not who he says he is as the real identification card for Daryl falls from behind the pilot’s seat.  The faces clearly do not match, but Winston’s attempt to alert Marshal Harris to this fact falls on deaf ears, literally and figuratively, as she is on headphones with the person operating the plane.  When she does look his way, she takes it as Winston’s usual complaining and dismisses it.  Yet, the clues to Daryl’s true identity (henceforth Daryl for brevity’s sake) mount as she notices odd things about him, like signs of blood on him where there should be none.  Suspicion grows when she cannot use the radio to check in with her boss, Janine (voiced by Eilise Patton).  What clinches it is when she asks about the pilot that brought her up to their previous location, and he thinks that person is a man when it was a woman.  There is a brief struggle in which the fake Daryl manages to overpower Marshal Harris before turning on Winston.  The former money man begs for his life by saying that he has access to Moretti’s funds and can give Daryl a million dollars if the deranged killer would let the hapless accountant live.  Daryl claims he is not in it for a pay day, just the pleasure of killing.  Their conversation gives Marshal Harris enough time to recover and turn the tables on Daryl by tazing him until he is unconscious.  With some help from Winston, they hogtie Daryl and handcuff him to the bulkhead.  Still, this means that the plane is now without competent hands at the controls.  Marshal Harris’ calls to Janine on her satellite phone get her in touch with Agent Hasan (Monih Abhat), an agent who flirts with her while instructing her on the instruments.  I am not sure why the playfulness is necessary, but whatever, I guess.  Once Daryl comes to, it becomes evident that he knows more than he should about Marshal Harris and Winston.  The conclusion is that there is a mole in the U.S. Marshals, which Marshal Harris assumes is Janine given Daryl’s knowledge.  She goes over Janine’s head and reaches out to the director of the U.S. Marshals, Coleridge (voiced by Paul Ben-Victor).  However, based on Winston’s discussion of what he had done for Moretti, it becomes clear that the true rat in the agency is Director Coleridge, who had been taking a monthly payment from Moretti.  Before Janine can do anything about this situation, though, she is killed in an accident while heading to the Anchorage airfield to meet Marshal Harris.  At roughly the same time, Daryl breaks free of his restraints and stabs Winston with a knife left on the cabin floor.  Though weakened, Winston is able to help subdue Daryl.  Wanting to get Daryl on the ground as soon as possible, Marshal Harris ignores Hasan’s recommendations and increases speed, which significantly shortens their fuel supply.  With one last attempt by Daryl to overpower Marshal Harris, Daryl is shot while they land, eventually being thrown from the plane and ran over by emergency vehicles.  Ouch.  Marshal Harris has to rescue Winston one more time from another would-be assassin before the movie comes to a close.

The last assassin in Flight Risk is sent by Director Coleridge to try to silence Winston, the final startlement in a string of thrillers in the film.  One of the more shocking aspects of it is Wahlberg’s character.  I cannot think of another movie in which he plays the villain.  My surprise has nothing to do with doubting his abilities as an actor.  He does fine here, and making him have male pattern baldness, while off putting, is a nice touch.  I am, perhaps, not using the word “surprise” correctly.  My reaction is that of a Catholic conspiracy theorist that is skeptical of Hollywood being truly accepting of an avowed Catholic like Wahlberg.  If you make him to be a crazy person, that is okay because only a lunatic would believe much of what the Church teaches.  This is sad for me because there are many films of his that I enjoy.  There are some stinkers, to be sure, but a few that I have watched multiple times.  Then he made Father Stu (2022), which has been the most read review on The Legionnaire to date, and made his religious affiliation more well known.  From this came commercials he did on social media platforms like YouTube for the app called Hallow, a Catholic prayer app for computers and smart devices.  As an aside, if you are a practicing Catholic, I highly recommend Hallow.  Because of these things, I feared that Wahlberg’s days as an A-list celebrity might be over.  I hope this is not true, and movies like this one show it.

What Marshal Harris hopes for in Flight Risk is that she can get Winston safely to where he needs to go.  As she later reveals to Winston, this is her second opportunity at being in the field.  Her first ended when another prisoner she had been transporting had been burned alive when those after that person found her and threw a Molotov cocktail.  What Janine does is give Marshal Harris a second chance.  Granted, this is not something a Federal law enforcement officer can have too many of after a mistake without facing consequences.  God approaches you and me differently.  He will not only give us second or third chances, but as many as we need in our quest to grow closer to him.  One of the things he asks of us in return for that infinite grace is to put our trust in Him.  That is not an easy thing to do, and we can see this play out with Marshal Harris’ interactions with others.  It is not just with Janine and Director Coleridge.  Her previous work incidents make her understandably eager to do the right thing and maintain her status as a field agent.  What is harder is giving her confidence to Winston.  Despite it being abundantly clear that he is a coward, and a weak one at that, she treats him as the title suggests.  The treatment is symbolized by the shackles she continues to make him wear even though he is obviously harmless.  The chains are a barrier to keep her safe, and many of us do the same thing with God out of fear.  Stepping out in Faith in God can seem as crazy as letting a fugitive go free in a tense situation as in the film.  However, like we also witness onscreen, doing so can literally save your life.

I am not sure watching Flight Risk will save your life unless you see it in the same context as I do.  Indeed, there is not much risk involved, unless your heart cannot take the action contained therein, in which case avoid it.  Otherwise, this is a straightforward story that had me not taking many notes while watching it.