Fight or Flight ** (2025, Josh Hartnett, Charithra Chandran, Julian Kostov, Katee Sackhoff, Marko Zaror) – Classic Movie Review 13,418

The exuberant 2025 dark comedy action film Fight or Flight stars Josh Hartnett as a burnt-out mercenary tasked with tracking down a target on an airplane flight.

Director James Madigan’s exuberant, violent, quite iffy 2025 Sky Cinema dark comedy action film Fight or Flight stars Josh Hartnett as a burnt-out mercenary tasked with the job of tracking down a target on an airplane flight. Soon, assassins are trying to kill both of them.

It also stars Charithra Chandran as Isha, Julian Kostov, Katee Sackhoff and Marko Zaror.

The film is rough and ready, though mainly rough. Having said that, it is ready to entertain, and quite well made too, with pretty good action and effects. Hartnett gives a compelling turn, compelling enough to make you think he deserves better work. Some of the film is really quite amusing and enjoyable, though patchy, but it starts to falter around two thirds of the way, and thinks gratuitous violence is the solution to slack story telling.

There is some very non-PC stuff, some of it offensive, if you can be bothered to be offended. It would like to be Tarantino or John Wick, but it hasn’t got the wit or imagination. It has got a bit of style and the courage of its own ridiculous convictions, and of course an older, chunkier, wrecked-looking Josh Hartnett.

The other performances are super keen, enthusiastic, on a fairly amateur level, but nowhere in the class of Hartnett’s. He is cool and eager to please, and pleases. Katee Sackhoff has a field day as his nasty, manipulative boss. She is rather good in a bad kind of way. Or is it rather bad in a good kind of way?

It is written by Brooks McLaren and D J Cotrona in determinedly idiosyncratic style. Their set-up ain’t bad, and some of the situations and dialogues are good, but another couple of re-writes would produce a much better result.

Shockingly, at the end, we are told the story isn’t finished. Oh, good heavens!

Joshua Daniel Hartnett (born July 21, 1978)

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,418

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