Parents' Guide to Fight or Flight

Hartnett's charisma keeps this frenetic airborne thriller—basically Bullet Train on a plane—watchable, even as the plot occasionally veers off course. But director James Madigan, working from a screenplay by Brooks McLaren and D.J. Cotrona, ultimately delivers a solid entry in the flight thriller genre with Fight or Flight. As Lucas, a disgraced agent battling substance use while on a high-stakes mission, Hartnett leans into the chaos with a performance that's both bloody and oddly compelling. And Bridgerton season 2 star Charithra Chandran is well-cast as a wide-eyed flight attendant turned unlikely ally, while Sackhoff fits seamlessly into her role as an intimidating agency boss managing the crisis remotely.

Fight or Flight's action sequences are sharply executed, ranging from claustrophobic brawls in first-class bathrooms to all-out melees across the cabins. That said, the visual effects occasionally seem amateurish, like when the fuselage is breached and some passengers are sucked out of the plane. While the film lacks the A-list cast and rapid-fire banter of close cousin Bullet Train, Hartnett and Chandran's platonic chemistry brings a human touch to the high-altitude carnage. A hallucinogenic toad venom sequence stands out as a particularly wild, comically violent highlight in this solid, satisfying action-adventure.