Verdict: You need to suspend disbelief before hitting play on "Flight." There are more than a few moments that wouldn't hold up in the cold light of reality. But if you put those aside, you're rewarded with a movie that starts as a tense drama with an incredible action set piece, and then transforms into a moving character study that only an actor of Denzel Washington's caliber could pull off.

"Flight" is an important milestone in my Denzel Watchathon. It marks the end of a drought for the legendary actor and the beginning of a return to form.

Of course, this is a debatable claim in itself. Yes, "Flight" was Denzel Washington's first Oscar-nominated performance since he won for "Training Day" at the 74th Academy Awards. That 11-year gap between nominations is the longest of Denzel's career; the next-longest gap between Oscar-nominated performances was the seven years between "Malcolm X" and "The Hurricane." Since "Flight," he's been nominated a further three times.

But while those are indisputable facts, subjectively, some would argue Denzel put in a few of his best performances ever during that 11-year gap. "Man on Fire," "The Manchurian Candidate," and "American Gangster" notably all fall in that drought. In a poll we ran earlier this year, our readers even declared "Man on Fire" Denzel's best performance, upsetting "Training Day" for the top spot.

Regardless of whether Denzel was at a "low point" of his career or not, though, what cannot be denied is that his performance in "Flight" is worthy of its Oscar nomination.

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