FLIGHT: A BATTLE BETWEEN PLOT AND THEME?:

I recently watched Robert Zemeckis' latest drama, Flight, featuring the wonderful Denzel Washington. I enjoyed the film a lot, I thought it had a really good plot, likeable characters and the lead role of Whip was played fantastically by Mr. Washington himself, however, I couldn't help but to be put off engaging with the story because of the constant use of religious phrases and terminology used throughout.

(possible spoilers to come, although I think everyone has a brief idea of what happens in the film due to trailers etc)

It was through the introduction of one of the flight crew that it started, an invitation given to Whip to join the cabin crew member at a church ceremony when the plane landed, however, we all knew that the plane, in fact, was not going to land and therefore this invitation was void to start with, I just wish that the preaching had crashed mid-air as well as the airplane.
It was all well and good (meaning I had accepted that religion was a part of the film) until Whip met his co-pilot in the hospital post-crash and his girlfriend/fiancé/wife blurted out "PRAISE JESUS" in the middle of a sentence..... twice. Being British, and seeing the film in a British cinema, the whole audience obviously burst out laughing. It was the most ridiculous thing ever. In what was an extremely crucial plot point, and a moment in defining the character of Whip, the religious outburst completely took away any attention the audience was paying to the sombre moment of the film, and made it comical.

Saying all of this, however, I did really, really enjoy the film. It was a lot better than I imagined, and although I think there are factors that could be improved (the ending being a key one, surely there's a better way to get his relationship with his son back on track that that), altogether I had a good two hours whilst watching it and would definitely recommend it!