Today’s quick review: Flight World War II. The passengers and crew of a transatlantic flight to London are put in danger when their plane flies through a wormhole and arrives in 1940, during a German air offensive against Allied forces. William Strong (Faran Tahir), the pilot of the flight, and his copilot Daniel Prentice (Matias Ponce) must coordinate with Nigel Sheffield (Robbie Kay), a British radio operator, to find a way back home.
Flight World War II is a budget science fiction thriller about a plane that is hurled back in time. The movie explores the consequences of this freak occurrence, ranging from practical concerns like fuel usage and avoiding German fighters to more exotic issues like changing the course of history. To its credit, Flight World War II has passable acting and puts its modest CGI to good use. However, the movie’s weak script undercuts its efforts.
The central problem with Flight World War II is its failure to do anything clever with its premise. The movie spends most of its time on the relatively mundane aspects of its story: keeping the plane in the air, figuring out its location, and keeping the passengers from panicking. In more capable hands, these challenges easily could have been enough to carry the movie, as evidenced by the variety of other thrillers set aboard planes.
But Flight World War II does not have the basic craftsmanship needed to make these conflicts engaging, forcing it to rely on its science fiction aspects to make up the difference. This is where the movie truly falls short. The plane’s interactions with the past are limited to close calls with German planes and communicating with Nigel on the ground. There are no important ramifications of the time travel, only some half-baked speculation.
As a result, Flight World War II will hold little appeal to the audiences it most wants to court. Science fiction fans will find that it all but wastes a promising premise, while history fans will dislike its cursory treatment of its setting. Meanwhile, fans of budget movies will find that its general competence gets in the way, with only one or two major missteps to give it charm. The result is a mixed movie that’s not a very compelling watch.
For a more interestingly flawed thriller about a supernatural incident that affects the passengers of a plane, try Left Behind. For a more creative action thriller set aboard a plane, try Non-Stop, Red Eye, or Air Force One. For another budget sci-fi movie about travelers sucked into a wormhole, try Mysterious Island.
[4.3 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4627104/). I give it a 4.0 for flashes of competence held back by a lackluster story.