Working together for the first time, Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis present a compelling human drama with “Flight.” Washington gives one of the most nuanced performances of his career as an alcoholic pilot whose condition threatens to become public information after a plane crash.

Though Zemeckis has directed classics like “Back to the Future” (1985), “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988), “Forrest Gump” (1994) and “Cast Away” (2000), he has spent the last 12 years directing motion capture films with mixed success. “The Polar Express” (2004), “Beowulf” (2007) and “A Christmas Carol” (2009) all seem dated in retrospect since James Cameron perfected mo-cap technology in “Avatar” (2009). Most importantly though, Zemeckis’ stock plummeted when “Mars Needs Moms” (2011), a $150 million flop that he produced, only managed to earn $39 million at the box office.

Washington is the big star of Zemeckis’ new film. Washington is one of our greatest actors, one of the few with two lead-actor Oscars on his résumé. His work in the title role of Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” (1992) is a masterclass in the art. He embodied a force of evil, channeling Mephistopheles himself, in Antoine Fuqua’s “Training Day” (2001). But Washington’s role as airplane pilot William “Whip” Whitaker in “Flight” isn’t as forceful as those two roles. The script calls for vulnerability and tenderness, and he proves more than adept at giving it to us. In “Flight,” his body creaks from neglect, his eyes reflect pain, anger, regret and hopelessness.

The drama centers on the events of a plane crash, which happens at the beginning of the film. Technical failure sends the plane down, but in a series of astonishing movements that would put Captain Sully to shame, Whip lands the plane with minimal casualties. Yet an investigation of the crash finds two vodka bottles in a garbage near the cockpit, and Whip’s alcoholism threatens to come into public focus. Nursing his injuries in the hospital, Whip meets Nicole (played by an empathetic Kelly Reilly), a heroin junkie with whom he becomes romantically involved.

The down-and-out alcoholic character isn’t new to cinema. It’s been played by everyone from Ray Milland in Billy Wilder’s classic “The Lost Weekend” (1945) to Nicolas Cage in “Leaving Las Vegas” 50 years later. What sets “Flight” apart from those is Whip’s status as a public figure. The story remains personal, but there are implications on how the public would react if a hero was shamed as an alcoholic.

“Flight” isn’t just a dreary tale of endless, painful addiction. Zemeckis’ filmmaking injects the story with funny and thrilling scenes. John Goodman, playing Whip’s coke supplier, inhabits his role with a grim humor (Zemeckis gives him the appropriate leitmotif of The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil”). There is also one scene in which Whip, after over a week of abstinence, stares at a refrigerator full of alcoholic beverages, in their enticing sparkling bottles, which is among the tensest scenes moviegoers can see in Zemeckis’ filmography.

Zemeckis’ work in the last decade is marked with heavy special effects, but every visual effect in “Flight” exists to support the story or characters. The plane crash scene at the beginning of the movie is done with CGI, but it is done tastefully, unlike the garish digital excess in many blockbusters. Zemeckis and screenwriter John Gatins keep the focus on storytelling.

However, the screenplay leaves some to be desired. While the central characters are formed with a delicate moral ambiguity, characters such as Goodman’s drug dealer could be more developed. I’d also like to see more time spent with Whip’s family so we could find out more about their past and how exactly his alcoholism played a role in his divorce. The film was also made on a fast shooting schedule to keep the budget small (Zemeckis supposedly could not get a large one after the “Mars Needs Moms” fiasco), and some scenes feel like they didn’t get as much attention as they deserve, making the movie feel like something of a transitional work. The movie seems to be poised for financial success, though, and we can expect that Zemeckis will have the luxury of spending more time on his next movie.

There is a moment near the end of a movie in which a character who is important but distant to Whip’s life visits him. The character asks Whip a question that many viewers may at first find sentimental, but is one of the most important parts of the movie. That scene tells us that the worst thing about addiction is neither the harm it inflicts on the body nor its relentless cycle. The worst part of addiction is how it robs you of everything else, how it consumes everything and leaves nothing for the other people in life whom you love or who may want to love you. (the end?)