'Fight or Flight' Review: Josh Hartnett’s Comeback Continues to Soar | Hollywood Insider

Once Hollywood’s golden boy, Josh Hartnett reclaims his edge in the tense, high-concept thriller ‘Fight or Flight.’ The film’s slick execution marks a bold new chapter in his unexpected second act.

Hartnett Anchors a Brutal, High-Flying Action-Comedy

Josh Hartnett’s newest film outing, ‘Fight or Flight,’ is a stylish, blood-slicked action comedy that continues the successful resurgence of his wholly satisfying career renaissance. Directed by newcomer James Madigan in his debut feature, the film spins a high-concept action setup into something thrilling, brutal, and surprisingly funny. It’s ‘Die Hard’ at 35,000 feet, if Bruce Willis’s John McClane was nursing a hangover, cracking wise through bloodied teeth, and played by a bleach-haired, raggedy Hartnett whose performance is as deeply unhinged as it is captivating.

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The film finds Lucas Reyes (Hartnett) as a weary, disavowed agent waking up in Bangkok, a bottle of liquor falling from his lap. He is tasked by his old boss, Katherine Brunt (Katee Sackhoff), with tracking down and bringing back alive an elusive target known only as “The Ghost” on an international flight. As the film unraveled, Reyes discovers that the plane is packed with rival assassins sent to take out his assignment. A sky-high game of cat and mouse descends into a pulpy ballet of insane violence and shifting allegiances. There is so much cursing, chaos, and catharsis– the film is an absolute blast.

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From Teen Heartthrob to Ticking Time Bomb

Once seen as the potential next male star of Hollywood, Hartnett’s path through fame has been anything but typical. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to a building manager dad (who once played guitar for Al Green) and raised by a creatively inclined stepmother, Hartnett’s early life was far from the spotlight. A knee injury benched his football aspirations in high school, steering him toward high school theater, where he discovered his knack for performance. He would eventually be spotted by a talent scout and land at SUNY Purchase’s Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film, though not for long: after criticizing the institution’s creatively stifling evaluation system in a letter to the dean, a young Hartnett was expelled. This would not be the last time he challenged expectations.

Soon after, Hartnett moved to Los Angeles upon the request of his agent and shockingly quickly landed a role on ABC’s ‘Cracker,’ which ran from 1997 to 1998, followed by a breakout part in ‘Halloween H20’. The late ‘90s and early 2000s ushered in a string of memorable, starmaking performances: from ‘The Faculty,’ to ‘The Virgin Suicides,’ and ‘Black Hawk Down,’ Hartnett became the poster boy for the sensitive-but-smoldering millennial male.

While the world saw a heartthrob, Hartnett could not help but see a trap. As acting offers grew glossier– Superman, Batman, pick your cape– he grew wary. He turned down those coveted roles and others, stating to The Chronicle in 2013 that “Trying to stay at the top is a shortcut to unhappiness.” By the late 2000s, the sought-after A-list dream for many had curdled for Hartnett. He opted to duck out of the spotlight, choosing indie films and even direct-to-DVD fare over long blockbuster commitments. For a while, the narrative was one of retreat, even a fall. But, in truth, it was incubation.

The Reinvention: From ‘Oppenheimer’ to ‘Trap’

In recent years, Hartnett’s selective return to the spotlight has felt purposeful and punchy. As Ernest Lawrence in the Best Picture-winning sensation ‘Oppenheimer,’ he delivered a measured, cerebral performance that reminded audiences of his dramatic chops and skill at being a supporting character actor. A year later, he startled audiences with a villainous role in M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap,’ playing a father and serial killer with dual personas threatening to clash like tectonic plates. And in 2024’s ‘The Bear,’ he slipped seamlessly into the role of Frank, a surprising guest role that showed off his newfound looseness and TV charm.

‘Trap’ was a particular success for Hartnett. Breaking from his type, Hartnett turns villainous, ravaging, and neurotic in Shamaylan’s thriller. Not only was he terrifying, but his characters’ sometimes fumbling, sometimes genius attempts at breaking out of the heavily guarded concert hall were hilarious. His bugged-out eyes and raised eyebrows brought a charm and watchability to his deeply evil character, an incredible starring turn from Hartnett.

The beauty of this chapter in Hartnett’s career is that he is no longer trying to be, or forced to be, a movie star. He’s become a character actor with a leading man’s screen presence. In ‘Fight or Flight,’ he is in his full elements: funny, feral, self-aware, and always game for more.

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‘Fight or Flight’s High Altitude Mayhem’

James Madigan’s direction is sharp and tactile, opening his debut film with a propulsive, bloody long take that immediately signals the chaos the film will erupt into throughout its runtime. The use of the plane’s architecture as a battleground is brilliant: flight attendant carts are turned into weapons, wine bottles smashed into skulls, people are slammed and stuffed into overhead compartments. The setting of the massive, two-story Airbus adds to the tension, combat erupting first in economy and tumbling into first class. Madigan understands the thrill of watching well-choreographed violence unfold in tight quarters, the innocents and the attackers too close for comfort. The sound design, with each crunch, slap, and pop, makes each hit feel cartoonishly satisfying.

Bridgerton’s Charithra Chandran shines as Isha in a sharp, ferocious turn as a flight attendant and Reyes’ unlikely ally. Katee Sackoff brings gravitas as the guiding force to Reyes’s mission and a complicated emotional impact to Reyes’s mysterious backstory. The supporting pair of flight attendants (Danny Ashkok and Hughie O’Donnell) are more than cannon fodder, but part of the film’s comic and kinetic rhythm, giving the chaos a bit of camaraderie.

“The Ghost” of Morality: An Enemy with Purpose

Without diving into spoiler territory, it’s worth noting that ‘Fight or Flight’ boasts a surprisingly layered antagonist for an action comedy. ‘The Ghost,’ far from being a stock villain, brings a philosophical weight to the film’s second act. Their motivations center around big tech, child labor, and environmental devastation, reframing their actions as something more urgent and understandable.

Hartnett’s performance alongside “The Ghost” straddles tones with finesse. He lurches between slapstick physical comedy and steely gravitas, flopping across cabin seats one moment and crushing an enemy’s windpipe the next. His signature gap-toothed grin becomes its visual motif, perfect for a character who is not quite put together and is dangerously close to snapping or slipping up.

Why You Should See It (In Theaters!)

‘Fight or Flight’ is the kind of movie that deserves, and desperately needs, a theatrical audience. Not just because it is visually sharp, laugh (or groan) out loud funny, and sonically bonkers, but because it represents a kind of film we rarely get anymore: an original, high-concept, mid-budget thriller with no IP strings attached. It is not based on a comic, toy, or true crime podcast. One has to do no homework, as it is not a sequel, reboot, or “multiverse installment.” It is just a solid, old-fashioned, rip-roaring action film, with a beating heart and a nice dose of madness under the hood.

When audiences show up for movies like ‘Fight or Flight,’ we send a message that we are hungry for new stories and original concepts. We want actors like Josh Hartnett to defy expectations and tear the roof off with something no algorithm could have predicted.

What’s Next: Hartnett’s Second Act Continues

With the Colleen Hoover novel ‘Verity’ adaptation on the horizon, Hartnett’s comeback tour shows no signs of stopping. In the psychological romance co-starring Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway and directed by Michael Showalter, the film promises to serve up another nuanced supporting turn from Hartnett.

Once a teen idol trapped in the harsh glare of the spotlight, Hartnett has clawed his way back with grit, humility, and a surprising sense of humor. His career today looks nothing like it did in 2001, and we as movie-goers are all the better for it. He is not a boyish dreamboat anymore. He is the rogue on a bender, the broken man with a mission, the killer with something in his eyes even he cannot quite name. Hartnett’s work has never been more interesting, jumping from genre to genre with ease. And ‘Fight or Flight’ makes a safe, smooth landing with Hartnett in the cockpit.

By Leeann Remiker

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‘Fight or Flight’ Review: Josh Hartnett’s Comeback Continues to Soar

Hartnett Anchors a Brutal, High-Flying Action-Comedy

From Teen Heartthrob to Ticking Time Bomb

The Reinvention: From ‘Oppenheimer’ to ‘Trap’

‘Fight or Flight’s High Altitude Mayhem’

“The Ghost” of Morality: An Enemy with Purpose

Why You Should See It (In Theaters!)

What’s Next: Hartnett’s Second Act Continues

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