On a Wing and a Prayer Review: Faith-Based Airplane Crisis Stumbles

A Christian family suffering a tragic loss experiences a harrowing crisis while flying home on Easter Sunday in 2009. On a Wing and a Prayer tells the remarkable true story of how Doug White (Dennis Quaid) landed a private plane after the pilot’s death midair. A man questioning his faith finds strength in God as strangers rally to help. If only the film captured the moment without strained melodrama, contrived subplots, and poor editing. What should have been a riveting tale of survival under pressure feels hokey and staged.

Doug (Quaid) panics with his brother, Jeff (Brett Rice), on a training flight in Southwest Florida. They laugh before attending a barbeque competition. Doug’s wife, Terri (Heather Graham), has made her delicious sauce. Their teenage daughters, Bailey (Abigail Rhyne) and Maggie (Jessi Case), argue afterward. Maggie doesn’t understand why they’re giving leftover food to homeless people. Terri chastises her selfishness. They must share God’s blessings with the less fortunate.

The family receives awful news the following day. Doug can’t process what has happened. He wonders why God would heap such loss on him. Terri consoles him. Their savior has a higher purpose. The Wrights decide to return home to Louisiana. Doug books a private plane with King Air. Their pilot, Joe (Wilbur Fitzgerald), promises a smooth trip after an initial bumpy ride.

Into the Sky

Amazon Studios

Doug sits at the controls with Joe. He stares longingly into the sky before realizing Joe has passed out. A check of Joe’s pulse reveals the unthinkable. Doug grabs the controls and radios the Fort Meyers airport for help. He’s only had one flight lesson and doesn’t have a clue what to do. At the tower, Dan Favio (Rocky Myers), an air traffic controller in training calls Kari Sorenson (Jesse Metcalfe), a grieving flight instructor, for help. Meanwhile, in an airport suburb, young Donna (Raina Grey) monitors the dangerous situation on her computer.

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On a Wing and a Prayer pours the narrative batter thick from the start. Characters are quickly introduced in different settings. The supporting ensemble gets their own exposition before joining the fray. This makes sense to a certain extent but goes way overboard. Prolific director Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer, The King’s Daughter) spends an inordinate amount of time outside the plane. This dilutes valuable tension by constantly cutting away from the primary protagonists. Donna serves as a tool explaining aviation lingo in layperson terms. But this is already done as Kari teaches flight controls. The entire kid subplot should have been cut from the film.

The editing choices are problematic throughout. Split screens are used to show different viewpoints. It works when we see the family on the plane, Kari in his garage, and the airport staff springing into action. What’s puzzling is when each wheel in the landing gear gets their own dedicated shot. There’s too much going on in frame during key scenes. I understand the idea of visually spreading the action, but it needed better execution.

A Faith-Based Film

On a Wing and a Prayer is chock-full of twangy Southern accents, country music, and Christian gospel references. That’s not unexpected in a faith-based film geared towards a specific audience. But dialing down the proselytizing might have made the heavy-handed plot more accessible.

On a Wing and a Prayer is a production of MGM Light Workers. It will have an April 7th exclusive Prime Video streaming premiere from Amazon Studios.

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