Fight or Flight (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – A mercenary takes on the job of tracking down a target on a plane but must protect her when they’re surrounded by people trying to kill both of them.

My Take – I genuinely believe that director David Leitch‘s Bullet Train (2022) didn’t get the right amount of love it deserved (though it grossed $239.3 million worldwide on a production budget of around $85.9–90 million). Right from its basic setting of finding rival assassins aboard a train for one particular target, to its charming performances and excellent action set pieces, the film is a delightfully splendid experience all around.

Surprisingly, this latest Sky Cinema release has almost the same premise, but with a few exceptions. Like the fancy train setting has switched to a commercial airline, our lead is not a full time assassin himself but a former secret service with questionable mental health, and of course, there is a McGuffin plot device, added probably to broaden the scope and scale. But what I never suspected that the resulting film would be so ridiculous entertaining and essentially deliver about 90 minutes of brawling at 30,000 feet.

Helmed by James Madigan, in his feature directorial debut, the film, written by Brooks McLaren and D.J. Cotrona (known for his role in the film G.I. Joe: Retaliation and the series From Dusk till Dawn) is refreshingly fun mainly as it adopts and stays true to its gonzo, go-for-broke approach with the basic setup.

Sure, it is mimicking a lot of popular series like the John Wick and The Raid, yet, the approach and pitch here is altogether sillier and unintentionally funny in the right way. And what it lacks in polish and panache it makes up for in humor, with an array of inventively amusing kills.

And most of the credit here goes to Josh Harnett, who fully commits to his enjoyably deranged performance that is almost on a par with his turn in last year’s Trap. Simply told, you haven’t lived fully until you’ve seen a beach-blonde Josh Hartnett run riot with a chainsaw on a plane.

The story follows Lucas Reyes (Josh Hartnett), a disgraced former Secret Service agent who has been on the run for the past few years. Living in Thailand as a bleach-blond drunkard and part-time mercenary, Lucas gets a chance at redemption when his former girlfriend Katherine Brunt (Katee Sackhoff), who now works for a shadow government agency, contacts him for a job, in exchange of getting his old life back.

His mission is simple: Lucas must board a plane from Bangkok to San Francisco, identify and subdue The Ghost, a black hat terrorist, and escort them safely back to America. But there’s a wrinkle: The Ghost has many enemies, and they’ve all gotten wind of the escape plan, hence, the flight’s passenger manifest has filled up with a rogues’ gallery of hit men and assassins, all ready to take out the cyber-terrorist and anyone who comes in the way, including Lucas.

Indeed, comparisons to ‘Bullet Train‘ are inevitable, but director Madigan manages to keep his film still feeling fresh. Having worked as Second Unit on blockbusters like Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2009) and The Meg (2018), he brings his prowess to the narrative that is mostly visible in the incredible fight sequences that help it elevate from a pale imitation to something equally brutal and compelling.

It also helps that the blonde-haired, airline pajama-clad Lucas is compelling character as soon as he steps on screen, juggling humor and some seriously impressive fight sequences – including one particularly deranged moment with the aforementioned chainsaw.

Here, director Madigan clearly delights in making use of the limited options for weapons on board. Lucas has to use everything from a champagne flute to a seat-belt to fight off various assailants, resulting in innovative and entertaining close-quarters battles.

However, the film is far from perfect. An attempt to add some depth and meaning to the carnage lands a bit forced, and there’s an awkwardly wedged-in ‘serious’ plot twist about slave labor that doesn’t add anything to the narrative. Equally, the subplot of the mission headquarters ends up being unsatisfying.

Nevertheless, Josh Hartnett is really good and carries the film with ease. Dressed variously in a Hawaiian shirt, a pink tee and airplane-issue pajamas, Hartnett cuts an unlikely figure as an action star, but he convincingly throws some solid punches, even if the choreography here isn’t quite at Wick levels of excellence.

Bridgerton‘s Charithra Chandran, who also showcases impressive action chops and shares some good banter with Harnett. Katee Sackhoff expertly deadpans the dialogue and plays it straight as the permanently scowling boss. On the whole, ‘Fight or Flight‘ is an entertaining B-movie that delivers a ridiculously bloody fun ride that action fans will surely relish.