FIGHT OR FLIGHT is a 2025 action comedy directed by James Madigan, from a screenplay by Brooks McLaren and D.J. Cotrona.

A mercenary (Josh Hartnett) takes on the job of tracking a high-value asset known only as The Ghost on an international flight. Realizing the plane is filled with assassins assigned to kill them both, the pair must work together in a fight for their lives.

The cast includes Josh Hartnett, Katee Sackhoff, Charithra Chandran, Julian Kostov, Marko Zaror, and Juju Chan Szeto.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT made its debut in theaters May 9th, courtesy of Vertical Entertainment.

With scripts getting recycled or remakes left and right movies often feel very familiar these days, and when I first saw the trailer for FIGHT OR FLIGHT I immediately thought this was 100% the plane version of the 2022 Brad Pitt action comedy thriller BULLET TRAIN (our full review and trailer here).

I will admit it still looked fun and I love me some Josh Hartnett, but I figured it would be a limited or VOD release anyway so I knew I would see it at some point. To my surprise FIGHT OR FLIGHT received a wide release showing that Hartnett still has some juice left, and I made sure to head over to the theater to see if it was worth an hour and a half of my precious time.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT does feel very familiar but I felt like director James Madigan and writers Brooks McLaren and D.J. Cotrona took the familiar concept and had fun with it. In many ways it felt like they watched BULLET TRAIN and did what they could to make a movie that was similar but still fun and engaging, and I actually really enjoyed it. Now this is more like the little brother as it does not have anywhere near the budget or star-studded cast, but they take advantage of what they have at their disposal.

There is no doubt in my mind that this movie is on Amazon Prime for $4.99 day one without Josh Hartnett because he is undoubtedly the primary draw for the film. Hartnett plays Lucas Reyes, a former Secret Service agent turned bleached blond alcoholic who has fallen on hard times with a target on his back, before he is given an opportunity to take on a mission that will clear his name.

Unfortunately for Reyes this mission is quite literally a death trap at 10,000 feet as he ends up on a flight full of contract killers gunning for the person he is tasked with taking into custody. He quickly realizes his predicament has left him with little options so he uses his resourcefulness and knack for successfully beating people to death to his advantage. Plus the plane was very well stocked with nips so that kept him going.

The premise is very straightforward, which was fine because Hartnett was the primary driver of the film anyway, as he serves up constant comic relief and is awesome in the stunt department. The action is pretty much non-stop once it gets going, and it seems to ramp up as the story progresses. FIGHT OR FLIGHT also included a few twists and turns which I thought was a nice touch.

As I pointed out Josh Hartnett is the primary draw for this film and for good reason because he delivers on all fronts. Hartnett recently starred in M. Night Shyamalan’s mystery thriller TRAP (our full review here), which seemed to be a bit of a career resurgence for the longtime actor. I mean the fact that he crushed it as a sociopathic serial killer and seamlessly shifted to play a badass former Secret Service agent is proof that my guy can still do it all.

I really liked Charithra Chandran in a strong supporting role, and I thought that she had great chemistry with Hartnett. Honestly the entire supporting cast was great, even though many of them only had about 20-seconds on-screen before Reyes sent them to the afterlife.

Similar to BULLET TRAIN, as bloody and violent as FIGHT OR FLIGHT can be it always has a goofy feel and never takes itself too seriously. I did feel like the tone of the film was a bit unbalanced at times, and I would like to have seen a bit more of a focus on Reyes’ backstory as it never seemed fully fleshed out.

The film chose to prioritize the action sequences over the story which did work out in the end as it was never boring, and some of the fight sequences were an absolute blast to experience. Plus it is worth noting I loved the final act when Hartnett took on a group of bad guys armed with a chainsaw. That was without a doubt the icing on the cake for me.

THE VERDICT

An engaging action comedy packed with creative fight sequences and fun characters, FIGHT OR FLIGHT may feel familiar but its never boring and Josh Hartnett on a rampage with a chainsaw is worth the price of admission alone. I didn’t expect a ton with this movie and I felt like it delivered more than enough making it easy for me to recommend seeing it in theaters.

“Who hired you? You’re not even sober.”

“I’m getting way closer than I’d like to be.” - Lucas Reyes