I can’t quite figure out if Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) is a total dude or a douche in this film.

Our opening scene shows him in bed with a stunningly beautiful woman, he has a dream pilots job, jet sets across the world and is clearly living life one party at a time. But then he is on the phone refusing to cooperate with his estranged wife who is begging for assistance to help with their son you can’t quite help but feel you’re not supposed to like him.

This is further exacerbated by his continued deterioration as he further becomes a bit of a dick really.

So it goes with addicition, with Whip struggling against both alcohol and drug abuse that implicates him in gross negligence against the airline who seek to attribute some blame on him for the airline crash. Irony is, his incredible skills as a pilot essentially save a majority of the passengers from the disaster, which, I may add, is stunningly recreated with an exciting crash landing that will have you biting nails and chewing bricks.

The story is less about the crash as it is about the hopelessness against alcoholism and drug addiction, as he simply can’t fight his weak urges to succomb.

Superb performances from all around, not least John Goodman’s awesome ‘clean up guy’ routine.