CINEMA
PLANE (2023)
MPAA: R
Release Date: 01/20/23 [Cinemas]
Genre: Action/Thriller
Studio: Lionsgate
"A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he's forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm."
OUR MOVIE REVIEW:
Plane got a bit of buzz with its trailer release. The intense two-minute preview presented the movie as an action-packed thriller. At the end, the title reveal inevitably made most people burst out in laughter. A single word, Plane, flashes across the screen. It’s obvious and corny and to be honest lazy, but somehow it piqued everyone’s interest.
The premise of Plane is pretty simple. Pilot Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler) is embarking on a routine 15-passenger flight from Singapore. A storm on their flight path is a concern but he’s assured it will be cleared out and won’t pose a threat to the flight. Of course, that turns out to be incorrect as lightning strikes the plane killing the electricity and forcing Brodie to do an emergency landing on a remote island in the Philippines. As if that isn’t harrowing enough, it turns out the island is inhabited by separatists and rogue militia and the Philippine authorities never go there because it’s so dangerous. The remaining passengers are attacked and rounded up as hostages by the insurgents on the island. Brodie must find a way to keep his passengers safe and send for help to get rescued. He is assisted by Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), a fugitive who was being transported on the flight as a prisoner. Together they form an unlikely team and fight the islands’ inhabitants.
Director Jean-François Richet keeps the pace zipping along and your heartbeat racing. The scenes in the plane are filled with suspense and intrigue as you wait with bated breath to see if they will make it through the storm. After they land, the intensity picks up even more as the passengers are hunted on the island. Screenwriter Charles Cumming alternates between the island and the Trailblazer Air headquarters back in the U.S. where the CEO and a PR guru named Scarsdale (Tony Goldwyn) are hard at work trying to track down the plane and its passengers.
Butler and Colter have good chemistry, trading banter and working together to get to the passengers and keep them safe. Neither of them have much of a character arc but to be honest if you’re looking for a deep character study in an action-movie called Plane, you might need to rethink your logic. There are some fun bits in the movie, like when a huge gun begins picking people off one by one–shooting through cars to hit the hidden humans, prompting one of the victims to say, “Who are these guys?” It’s hilarious. It’s ridiculous. But the over the top energy works.
Plane is not the best action movie ever (it’s not even close) and it’s very predictable. But it has a few things that make it a worthwhile watch. Solid performances led by Butler and Colter and decent turns from Daniella Pineda who plays a flight attendant and Yoson An who plays the co-pilot round out the cast. The action is typical for this type of movie but it is well done and keeps the suspense high and the intensity dialed all the way up throughout the movie. If you’re looking for a fun, entertaining action movie, Plane is a safe bet (unless you have a fear of flying).