One of the more interesting movies that was released in 2025 was Flight Risk, an action/thriller directed by Mel Gibson, starring Michelle Dockery, Mark Wahlberg, and Topher Grace. The film had a very interesting premise, taking place almost entirely in a small airplane, where a U.S. Marshal has to transport a fugitive across Alaska while fending off a hitman posing as their pilot, played by Wahlberg in one of his few villainous turns. Unfortunately, Flight Risk‘s reviews are a good indicator of how the actor wasn’t used all that well in this film.

Mark Wahlberg has had a very prolific career, spanning a lot of different genres and characters, which has resulted in him receiving two Oscar nominations, one for his supporting role in The Departed, and one Best Picture nomination for his producer role on The Fighter. He is obviously very talented, but many of his roles feel very similar to one another, and while his newest project actually let him do something different, it was ultimately a bit of a letdown, especially Flight Risk‘s ending, as he wasn’t given the proper time to shine.

Mark Wahlberg Was A Fun Villain In Flight Risk Despite His Limited Screentime

Wahlberg Was Definitely The Best Part Of The Film

While there were plenty of problems with Flight Risk, mostly boiling down to the very simplistic script and uninteresting characters, it was still fun to see Mark Wahlberg take on that villainous role, which was a big departure from his more recent work. Flight Risk‘s cast as a whole was probably the best part of the film, and Mark Wahlberg was able what could have been a very basic and boring villain and infuse him with enough life to keep the character at least somewhat interesting.

However, the biggest problem with his character in the movie was the simple fact that Wahlberg wasn’t given enough time to do much in Flight Risk. He was fun, but he was knocked out for a good portion of the movie and then quickly killed, ending his villainous run far too soon after it started. If he had more screen time, and more opportunities to really flex his acting chops, he could’ve been a very memorable villain, but unfortunately, he wasn’t given that chance, and it remains another missed opportunity.

Mark Wahlberg Needs To Play Another Villain A Lot Sooner Than The Gap Between Fear & Flight Risk

This Aspect Of Wahlberg’s Career Has Been Very Sparse

Mark Wahlberg’s last villainous role was in the 1996 psychological thriller Fear, in which Wahlberg played an obsessive psychopath intent on forming a relationship with Nicole, played by Reese Witherspoon. While Fear wasn’t a huge critical success, it did well at the box office, finding a pretty solid fanbase, becoming a cult classic and kickstarting the careers of Wahlberg and Witherspoon. Wahlberg’s role was widely celebrated, but unfortunately, Fear was Wahlberg’s only real major villainous role until this year’s Flight Risk.

With how great the actor was in Fear, and how much potential his role in Flight Risk had, Wahlberg desperately needs to begin taking on more evil roles as he continues his career. It was nearly 30 years between Fear and Flight Risk, and during that time, many of his roles felt very similar to one another. He has proven that he is great as a villain, and now that he has shown he is willing to be the bad guy in a movie again, it could be a great new direction for his career.

Playing More Villains Could Open Up A New Chapter Of Mark Wahlberg’s Career

Wahlberg Could See A Career Resurgence If He Takes Similar Roles

In recent years in particular, it feels like Wahlberg’s career has been stagnating, and his more modern roles haven’t really shown off what he can do. His biggest project so far in the 2020s was 2022’s mediocre Uncharted, in which he played Victor Sullivan, acting as a friend and mentor to Tom Holland’s Nathan Drake. He had his unremarkable stint on Transformers in the mid-late 2010s, and starred in plenty of middling action/comedy films, leaving his career pretty unremarkable for many years at this point.

If Wahlberg takes on more villain roles, then it could absolutely revitalize his career and open up plenty of new opportunities for him to really show what he is capable of once again. While his role in Flight Risk could’ve been better, it was still fun, but the movie itself wasn’t great, and seeing what Wahlberg could bring to a truly great script and film is a very exciting prospect. Unfortunately, his next handful of roles feel like very familiar ground for the actor, but maybe Flight Risk will trigger a bigger change for Wahlberg further down the line.