Mark Wahlberg plays Balding, the Psychotic Killer

The skies are much less friendly to flying with a bald, unhinged Mark Wahlberg in the pilot’s seat.

That’s the takeaway from the new trailer for “Flight Risk,” a Mel Gibson thriller that swaps the battlefields of Scotland (“Braveheart”) and the Pacific Theater (“Hacksaw Ridge”) for an in-flight face-off between Wahlberg’s psycho killer and Michelle Dockery’s FBI agent. She is assigned to escort a government witness (Topher Grace) to the trial; He has a contract to shoot the turncoat before he can sing. The two come across a small plane charting a course over the Alaskan wilderness.

Wahlberg is clearly having the time of his life as the folly-challenged assassin, which is a departure from his typical heroic roles. Dockery, best known for his upper-crust turn on “Downton Abbey,” also plays against type. Lionsgate will release the film on January 24. “Flight Risk” was written by Jared Rosenberg.

Wahlberg and Gibson recently collaborated on “Father Stu,” a faith-based drama set to hit theaters in 2022. Gibson, whose A-list career was derailed by a series of off-screen controversies, hasn’t directed a film since 2016’s “Hacksaw “Ridge,” which earned him an Oscar nomination.He previously won an Oscar for “Braveheart” and also oversaw “Apocalypto” and “The Passion of the Christ.” He plans to make a follow-up to the religious epic.

Wahlberg was last seen in Netflix’s “The Union,” a spy comedy starring Halle Berry. Dockery appeared in “Here” alongside Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. And Grace appeared in the well-received horror film, “Heretics”.