Having now starred in over fifty films, 58-year-old Denzel Washington shows no signs of slowing down. His latest role, as an alcoholic airline pilot, has also seen him nominated for an Oscar, his first nomination since his win for Training Day on 2001.

Although he puts in a solid performance, it's hardly surprising that this title failed to make it onto the Best Picture list, as it struggles with itself to actually go anywhere of note.

Whip Whitaker (Washington) is addicted to alcohol and drugs. This wouldn't be too worrying if it wasn't for the fact that he's commercial airline pilot, taking to the air, day in, day out, high as a 747.

On a domestic flight to Atlanta, the plane experiences some extreme turbulence. Despite the heady cocktail of booze and drugs from the night before still in his system, Whip manages to control the aircraft, to the relief of all those on board. Unfortunately they are all less luckily closer to their destination.

Just outside of Atlanta, the plane suffers from some kind of malfunction, which sees Whip having to perform some pretty impressive manoeuvres to get the plane down on the ground. To his credit, he does just that, with remarkably few fatalities.

Hailed as a hero, Whip initially decides to ignore his demons, and go cold turkey as far as the drink and drugs are concerned. But when an investigation is launched, and he finds himself having to get all lawyered-up, Whip finds comfort in his addictions once again.

Did you just call me Shirley?!

Flight is the first live-action film for director Robert Zemeckis since 2000 (when both What Lies Beneath and Cast Away were released), and it shows. If you take out the gripping plane sequence early on, what's left is a drama without any sense of the dramatic.

The trouble lies in the moral ambiguity of Washington's character. Whip is undoubtedly flawed with his numerous addictions, but it's difficult to empathise considering he constantly abuses his position as a pilot, and more to the point the safety of his passengers, as he flies under the influence. So when it looks like he's going to get away with it, it's difficult for an audience to embrace his lucky escape.

As Washington's character is divorced, another love interest is crow-barred into the story. Not only is the introduction of Nicole (Kelly Reilly) shoe-horned into proceedings, the fact that she's also an addict is just too obvious for words. It doesn't help that their relationship feels flat from the outset and doesn't really amount to much.

Having spent the last decade directing animated features (The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol) it's evident from this that Zemeckis has clearly forgotten how to direct real actors. Not only does Washington play a character that's not only difficult to care about, there's a real struggle to care what happens to him at all.

What you're left with then is a mildly impressive 20-minute plane crash sequence, with a hell of a lot of filler. In fact the only way to have made this far more watchable is if Washington managed to crash the plane onto a island that was inhabited by a smoke monster.

As a cinematic essay into a character's relationship with narcotics and alcohol, Flight crashes and burns, as it's been done elsewhere far better.

For Washington, there's no doubt he gives an assured performance, but it's certainly not Oscar-worthy, but at least his career will survive. But as far as Zemeckis is concerned, it may well be back to the drawing board as far as his next project is concerned.