Plane – Movie Review
Director: Jean-Francois Richet
Writer: Charles Cumming, J.P. Davis (Screenplay)
Cast
- Gerard Butler (Law Abiding Citizen)
- Daniella Pineda (Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom)
- Mike Colter (Extinction)
- Tony Goldwyn (Ghost)
- Lilly Krug (Shattered)
Plot: A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he’s forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm.
Runtime: 1 Hour 47 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Plane starts when pilot Brodie Torrance (Butler) and captaining a plane back across the Pacific Ocean to celebrate New Year’s. Hoping to make it home in time to be with his daughter. Over the ocean they hit a storm, forcing them into an emergency landing on a remote island.
Believing the landing was the most dangerous part, the small group of passengers wait for rescue. However, they learn they have landed in dangerous territory. Brodie must team up with mysterious criminal Louis Gaspare (Colter) to rescue his passengers and escape a small militia army on the island.
Verdict on Plane
Characters
Brodie Torrance is a widowed pilot looking for an easy flight home to be with his daughter. He is dedicated to making sure the flight is smooth and has the ability to calm any situation. When the plane gets into trouble, he remains calm to land it in the safest possible way. Brodie maintains his calm as he works with his co-pilot on options. However, his past in the RAF comes in his favour when he must rescue his passengers from a small army.
Louis Gaspare is a late arrival, being taken back for a murder trial. He doesn’t say much until he sees the danger everyone is facing. Louis teams up with Brodie to complete the rescue attempt, showing a much more brutal side to his operations.
Elsewhere in the cast, we get flight attendants, passengers and co-pilot who wait for Brodie to make decisions. Away from the situation crisis manager Scarsdale looks for solutions with the owner of the company. This bit is more interesting than it sounds for such a small set of characters.
However, much like what Top Gun Maverick did, they keep the enemy almost nameless, but ruthless. We see their threat with their brutal attacks, but they never feel like more than extra bodies to eliminate.
Performances
Gerard Butler was built for these types of roles, a strong action lead that has a haunting problem in his life. He has been doing them for so long now, he doesn’t ever put a foot wrong. Mike Colter is entertaining as the quiet criminal, that probably didn’t do anything that serious, despite it being suggested. Elsewhere in the cast, Tony Goldwyn steals the scenes in the situation room. Everybody else does what is needed to make the generic supporting characters create problems or solutions.
Story
The story follows a late-night flight across the Pacific Ocean that comes into complication through a storm, forcing an emergency landing. However, that isn’t the end of the situation, as they have landed on a militia-controlled island, leading the pilot and a criminal to team up to rescue the passengers.
This is action 101, you create a situation that needs somebody with a military history needing to step up to do the right thing. It creates a militia that has countless numbers, versus a smaller number saving innocent lives. Nothing in the story gets overcomplicated and it ends up being an entertaining story.
On the outside looking in, there are two big questions. First, shouldn’t the pilot have the final say on a flight plan, these do get answered in the movie. Secondly, it has a message about a low number of passenger flights. A subject being brought up in many conversations about climate change.
Themes
Plane is an action thriller that gives us an intense landing sequence. Using the very real tragedies as potential outcomes for the plane. When it comes to the action scenes on the ground, director Jean-Francois Richet chooses to use single-shot sequences making everything feel a lot more intense for Brodie.
The remote island helps with the settings, showing how technology can be used in a sudden rescue mission needed to be completed. Despite the operations room not being involved too much, it was interesting to see how a crisis team would operate too.
Final Thoughts – Plane is an excellent action-packed blast.