Fight or Flight

Fight or Flight is a film that knows exactly what it is and delivers that thing with efficiency and occasional flair. It is a contained action comedy set on a commercial airplane, built around one premise: one competent man protects one person against a plane full of trained killers. That premise runs 98 minutes and does not waste any of them.

Josh Hartnett's return to genre leading-man territory has been one of the better Hollywood second acts of the decade. His performance in Oppenheimer showed that the weariness he has acquired from a complicated career could be an asset. In Fight or Flight, that same quality works differently: Cole is a professional who has seen too much and does not particularly want to be here, but here he is, and the job needs doing. Hartnett plays reluctant competence better than almost anyone working today.

The confined setting is the film's best asset. Action films in airports or on planes have to solve the same problem: how do you create variety and momentum when the geography is a metal tube? Madigan and his stunt choreographers solve it by treating different sections of the plane as distinct environments, each with its own tactical logic, each offering different improvisational possibilities. The fight sequences work because the space is used rather than ignored.

Marko Zaror, the Chilean martial artist who has appeared in everything from Machete Kills to Netflix action films, is the most physically impressive element of the film. His sequences with Hartnett are the closest Fight or Flight gets to genuine action choreography rather than action editing: two people who know what they are doing moving through space with purpose. The rest of the film's action is serviceable. These sequences are special.

The VVWS score of +11 TRAD reflects a film with essentially no ideological content. Fight or Flight is not making an argument. It is executing a genre. In 2025, when even action comedies feel compelled to have a thesis, that restraint is its own kind of statement. The values implied by the plot, competence, protection of the vulnerable, refusal to walk away when violence is the only option, are traditional by structure rather than by deliberate choice. They are traditional because the genre is traditional. That is good enough.

Not a masterpiece. A well-made action comedy that delivers on its promises and does not try to be something it is not.

Formula: Weighted Score = Severity × Authenticity Multiplier × Centrality Multiplier

🔴 Woke Tropes

Trope	Severity	Authenticity	Centrality	Score
Female lead as capable professional rather than passive protected object	1	Moderate	Low	0.5
Diverse ensemble in action context (Indian female lead, Chilean villain)	1	Moderate	Low	0.5
TOTAL WOKE				1.0

🟢 Traditional Tropes

Trope	Severity	Authenticity	Centrality	Score
Individual competence deployed to protect another person in danger	4	High	High	5.04
Resourcefulness and improvisation under extreme constraint	4	High	High	5.04
Moral clarity: the antagonists are clearly and simply wrong	3	High	Moderate	2.1
Protection of a civilian at personal risk as its own reward	2	High	Moderate	1.4
TOTAL TRADITIONAL				13.6

Score Margin: +13 TRAD