Airplanes and action movies make a dynamic duo, and Fight or Flight takes full advantage of that perfect pairing, delivering a gleefully ridiculous airborne adventure that should come with a warning: “Check logic at the gate.” From Passenger 57 to Non-Stop to Air Force One, there’s something fundamentally thrilling about turning a commercial flight into a high-stakes warfield. In this newest entry to this high-altitude subgenre, a turbulent blend of outlandish plot mechanics and breakneck brawls creates a gloriously over-the-top midair melee. And yet, like the best kind of Wisconsin cheese, it’s hard not to eat it up, especially when Josh Hartnett is the one slicing it thick.

Hartnett (Oppenheimer), in the middle of a fascinating and well-played career renaissance, plays Lucas Reyes, a disgraced American operative exiled to Bangkok. His chance at redemption comes in the form of a cryptic mission from his former boss (and flame) Katherine (Katee Sackhoff, Riddick): board a commercial flight to San Francisco and identify a high-value asset known only as “The Ghost.” The catch? The plane is crawling with international assassins with an array of deadly skills determined to eliminate them both, and at 37,000 feet, there’s nowhere to run.

Making its theatrical landing stateside after an early 2025 U.K. release, Fight or Flight finds Hartnett throwing himself into the role with bruised charisma. He performs his own stunts, never letting the smirk fully fade while taking a punishing amount of bodily damage as the reluctant hero who gets shot, stabbed, and smashed into beverage carts. It’s a stark contrast to the clean-cut heartthrob roles that jump-started his career in the late ’90s, and that edge suits him. Much like his work in last summer’s modest hit Trap, he revels in the grit, grunting through combat and wisecracks with equal intensity.

Hartnett has great chemistry with Isha (Charithra Chandran, Eternals), and she elevates the “plucky stewardess” trope with her genuine charisma and quick-thinking resourcefulness. Her verbal sparring with Hartnett provides some wit amidst the madness, allowing her character to be the quippy conscience in a sea of scowling mercenaries without ever veering into parody. Flight attendants played by Danny Ashok and Hughie O’Donnell bring welcome comic relief, though their characters deserve more development beyond their functional roles.

Less successful are the ground-bound scenes featuring Katherine and her smarmy colleague Aaron (Julian Kostov). Peering through stylish cat-eye frames, Sackhoff delivers clunky exposition in corporate-speak that attempts to patch the plot’s numerous holes, and both actors clearly fumble their lines in ways the film oddly leaves unedited. It’s a bewildering choice that suggests a rushed production.

Making his feature debut after cutting his teeth on second-unit work for blockbusters like The Meg, director James Madigan orchestrates all the chaos with a confident hand while Matt Flannery’s cinematography transforms the aircraft setting into an improbable battleground where bodies hurtle over seats and rows while improvised weapons—from knives to golf clubs and even a flying chainsaw—create havoc throughout the cabin. The confined setting becomes a playground for inventive (and painful) violence as Hartnett battles foes up and down impossibly spacious aisles. If you’re hoping for realistic geography, meteorology, or even realistic jumbo jet mechanics, fasten your seatbelt and prepare for disappointment.

Still, what Fight or Flight lacks in coherence, it makes up for in propulsion. Madigan obviously studied at the John Wick school of action, and the script, credited to Brooks McLaren and actor D.J. Cotrona, barrels forward with frenetic urgency. While this doesn’t have the same aesthetic finesse as John Wick or Bullet Train (the film it most closely resembles), it borrows their stamina. The fight choreography is relentless, the kill count sky-high and even the groan-worthy moments end up contributing to the film’s cracked appeal.

Fight or Flight demands viewers check their physics knowledge and aviation understanding at the gate, serving as a reminder that sometimes the best cinematic ride is the dumbest one you can strap into. I wish I’d seen it in a packed theater. That’s the kind of joy this film trades in; not sophistication, but the communal thrill of bodies flying and logic evaporating at 500 mph. For fans of action cinema who appreciate creative combat more than coherent storytelling, this journey offers first-class thrills with economy-class plausibility—and that’s precisely its charm.