Fight or Flight
Vertical | Release Date: May 9, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
9
Negative:
2

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
VarietyJoe LeydonMay 9, 2025
Ultimately, it’s extremely doubtful that any of this would work nearly as well as it does without Hartnett at the center of the storm, anchoring the bloody chaos and generating rooting interest with a performance defined by propulsive physicality, industrial-strength enthusiasm and an indefatigable willingness, even eagerness, to repeatedly make himself the butt of the joke. Read full review
81
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiMay 10, 2025
Crackles with manic energy, fed at every turn by exhilarating fight choreography and a thoroughly game cast. Hartnett carries the whole silly, bone-crunching enterprise masterfully. Read full review
80
Film ThreatAlan NgMay 9, 2025
Fight or Flight is the kind of blood-splattered airplane movie that knows exactly what it is and fully commits — like Die Hard 2 hijacked by the John Wick stunt team. It’s dumb in the best ways, fast in all the right places, and somehow still lets Josh Hartnett show us he can kick a*s and break hearts… even while microdosing by mistake. Read full review
80
The Daily BeastNick SchagerMay 6, 2025
Amusing, energetic, and just clever enough to sustain its brief runtime, it serves up a boisterous and bruising brand of B-movie bedlam. Read full review
75
Washington PostTy BurrMay 9, 2025
Helmed by James Madigan, a second-unit director moving up to the big chair, from a screenplay by Brooks McLaren and D.J. Cotrona, “Fight or Flight” is high-spirited junk, too full of itself at times but mostly content to work out every last variation on a theme: How do you kill someone on an airplane? Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comClint WorthingtonMay 6, 2025
It’s a mid-budget riff on “Bullet Train,” after all—but meet it on its altitude, and it’s a bloody, funny good time. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckMay 8, 2025
[Hartnett's] charisma and surprising flair for physical comedy elevate this B-movie into something approaching A-level status, even if it’s ultimately undercut by its low-budget limitations and awkward tonal shifts. Read full review
70
ColliderAidan KelleyMay 6, 2025
It may not reinvent the wheel for tightly-knit actioners, but Fight or Flight still sticks the landing for a crowd-pleasing and chaotic thrill ride. Read full review
67
The Film StageDan MeccaMay 6, 2025
Fight or Flight‘s enjoyment will rest on where you stand with Hartnett, his character, and his comedy. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 9, 2025
One thing missing from Fight or Flight is the kind of Tarantino-inspired banter that elevated Bullet Train. In fact, the production is only fitfully successful in transcending the boundaries of a generic action film. Read full review
63
Paste MagazineRory DohertyMay 6, 2025
The fight scenes will make you laugh more than the dialogue, and it doesn’t survive a bumpy landing, but led by Captain Hartnett, Fight or Flight takes advantage of its budget airline resources for a knowingly ludicrous romp. Read full review
60
The New York TimesRobert DanielsMay 8, 2025
Hartnett and Chandran’s laid back chemistry steady the film’s turbulent tonal shifts, adding a punch that the shakily choreographed action lacks. Read full review
60
EmpireJohn NugentFeb 28, 2025
A solid bit of high-concept B-movie fun, establishing Josh Hartnett as a credible action hero, and James Madigan as a genre director to watch. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeFeb 27, 2025
This is pure pulp, but it’s good, honest pulp that keeps in time with the backbeat throughout. Good support from Bridgerton’s Charithra Chandran. Not for the squeamish, though. Read full review
60
Total FilmFay WatsonFeb 18, 2025
Slick and silly action sequences garner Fight or Flight well-earned John Wick and Bullet train comparisons, while Josh Hartnett proves himself a worthy action hero on this, at times, bumpy flight path. Read full review
58
IndieWireChristian ZilkoMay 8, 2025
If nothing else, it joins “Trap” in an expanding canon of mid-career Josh Hartnett movies that are memorable for their utter ridiculousness. And perhaps we all ought to be grateful that a film that promised us fighting or flight had the generosity to deliver on both. Read full review
50
IGNJesse HassengerMay 8, 2025
Josh Hartnett does a fine job in Fight or Flight’s intensely physical, one-versus-100 lead role, but the movie doesn’t have much to offer beyond 15 minutes of inventive action and 80 minutes of aggressive mediocrity. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesKatie WalshMay 8, 2025
This flick isn’t a masterpiece, not even a vulgar one, but it’s cheeky and entertaining enough in its giddy hyperviolence, thanks almost entirely to the star turn of Josh Hartnett, who has proved in his recent renaissance that he’s especially great in bozo mode. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineJustin ClarkMay 2, 2025
Dramatic moments create tonal stutters that prevent the film from becoming the unhinged Looney Tune that it wants to be. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerMay 8, 2025
If only Fight or Flight knew that what it does best is hectic mayhem then maybe it wouldn’t be such a bumpy ride. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 7, 2025
Hartnett is naturally engaging, and one can see why, with the movie plummeting to earth, the filmmakers might decide to pull the humor ripcord. But here it smells of desperation. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubChloe WalkerMay 6, 2025
Hartnett is the one element that makes the whole thing bearable. Yet he still isn’t enough to make it enjoyable, at least in any sustained way. Read full review
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