PHOTO COURTESY LIONSGATE

A promising concept sputters in a cloud of bad dialogue and needless twists in the clunky actioner “Flight Risk,” a failed attempt at small-scale career repair from director Mel Gibson.

It’s “Con Air” writ small: Fugitive-turned-informant Winston (Topher Grace) is found hiding in a remote Alaska town, and U.S. Marshall Madelyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) needs to get him back to civilization to testify against his mafioso boss. The first step of that journey is a brief flight across the wilderness in a prop plane piloted by Daryl Booth (Mark Wahlberg), a talkative yokel with an unconvincing accent.

The film spoils itself by constantly telegraphing its twists, so I’ll leave the ham-handed revelations to the script (by first-time writer Jared Rosenberg). As you’d imagine, someone isn’t who they seem, and secrets and conveniently withheld information flow freely, aided by the fact that no one in the film can ever stop talking (often over one another).

The setting is strong; close quarters framed against a picturesque, if poorly shot, landscape, with weapons and fists flying. Unfortunately, more time is spent bickering than battering, with obstacles coming from indefensible oversight rather than circumstance. (A good 10 minutes is spent trying to raise someone on the radio until Harris simply remembers that she has a satellite phone in her pocket.)

Dockery tries, but she can’t overcome the cliches in her character; Grace does the best, adding a dash of humor to a mostly leaden script. Wahlberg seems only interested in his paycheck; most of his role is performed by the elaborate bald cap he’s wearing. All are saddled with Gibson’s apathetic direction; the former star’s glimpses of directorial competence are almost as far removed from the present day as his reputation is from anyone’s standards of decency.

Were the story more compelling, the constant contrivances — such as the ever-changing rules of conversation on this plane, which require screaming above the propellers in some scenes yet allow for audible whispers in others — would be forgivable. Unfortunately, “Flight Risk” isn’t even satisfied with its highwire stakes, adding in an unnecessary subplot about a mole in the Marshall’s office just to muddy the waters. It’s a dead-end plotline that requires the awkward addition of a second climax even after the action returns to the ground.

When that final climax does arrive, the film ends with a shot of background characters staring awkwardly into the camera, trying to suss out what just happened. The look on their faces seems to read, “Is it over now?” Mercifully, it is.

My Rating: 4/10

“Flight Risk” is now playing in theaters.