"Flight Risk"—director Mel Gibson’s new action thriller starring Mark Wahlberg—is targeting a No. 1 debut at the weekend box office.

The premise is simple: Michelle Dockery plays U.S. Marshal Madolyn, tasked with transporting wiseass accountant Winston (Topher Grace) on a prop plane from Alaska to Seattle. Daryl (Mark Wahlberg), their shady pilot, is secretly working for the bad guys and tasked with killing Winston before he can testify. That’s it. That’s the setup.

Mel Gibson challenges himself to just make a normal potboiler with the Hitchcockian premise of Flight Risk. He's not up to it.