Certificate: 15 (strong violence, threat, language). Running Time: 107 mins. UK Distributor: Lionsgate
WHO’S IN IT?
Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, Tony Goldwyn, Daniella Pineda, Kelly Gale, Remi Adeleke, Haleigh Hekking, Lilly Krug, Joey Slotnick, Oliver Trevana, Paul Ben-Victor, Quinn McPherson
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Jean-François Richet (director), Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis (writers), Marc Butan, Gerard Butler, Jason Constantine, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Eda Kowan, Luillo Ruiz, Alan Siegel and Mark Vahradian (producers), Marco Beltrami and Marcus Trumpp (composers), Brendan Galvin (cinematographer), David Rosenbloom (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A pilot (Butler) must save his passengers when they’re taken hostage after a plane crash…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON PLANE?
Action movies have definitely evolved since the 1980s, when gruff, muscle-bound masculine heroes wielding deadly weapons and putting them to excessively gory use were all the rage, but if there’s one person who seems to be dead set on keeping that tradition alive in the modern day, it’s Gerard Butler. In recent years, the Scottish actor/producer has headlined a number of movies that feel, in their own way, like long-lost spec scripts from 40 years prior, and would have starred the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal or even Chuck Norris had they also been made then: from Den of Thieves to Hunter Killer to Copshop to any of the Has Fallen movies, Butler really appears to want twenty-first century audiences to experience the kind of gritty, violent action romp that he doubtlessly grew up with.
His one-man revitalisation of a macho action era continues with Plane, a film which is pretty unapologetic in its intensity, as well as its unwavering simplicity – that title alone, as generic as it is, does sum up most of the film in a single syllable – but I can’t lie, it’s often fun to see this kind of movie be done in this day and age, and once again Butler does not disappoint on that front.
In Plane, directed by French filmmaker Jean-François Richet, Butler plays Captain Brodie Torrance, a former RAF pilot now working for a commercial airline. Along with co-captain Samuel (Yoson An), he’s about to charter a night-time flight from Singapore to Hawaii, but whilst in the air they fly through a raging thunderstorm over the South China Sea, which short-circuits the plane and forces Brodie to make an emergency landing on a nearby Filipino island. Unfortunately for him and the passengers, that island happens to be run by militant separatists, who swiftly take the passengers as hostages and hold them for ransom – but luck is on Brodie’s side, as is Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), a prisoner who was being extradited on Brodie’s flight at the last minute, and proves himself an invaluable asset in Brodie’s daring rescue mission.
Playing almost like a more outdoors-y version of John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 (which is fitting, since Richet also directed the 2005 remake), this film’s most admirable asset is how it has virtually no false pretences about itself, and delivers exactly what it needs to without overstepping its own boundaries. There are few surprises hidden in the wings – no sudden betrayals, no last-minute twists, not even an inkling that whoever may be regarded as “safe” might actually not make it out alive – but Plane doesn’t seem to care too much about being anything more than a straightforward action B-movie that does everything it says on the tin. I do mean that as a compliment, because sometimes it’s nice to just sit down and watch something that isn’t actively trying to say anything important or align itself with modern-day thinking, but is instead much more about putting the viewer in a tense scenario, and showing how a good action hero like Gerard Butler will shoot and kill his way out of it. It really is that simple, and all the more entertaining because of it.
There are plenty of old-school action beats that Plane hits well, but director Richet is also pretty good at making you feel every last punch, gunshot, and (literal) cutthroat slice as both Butler and Colter – both on top charismatic form here – slowly make their way through an assortment of villains. The first act alone is quite the (also literal) turbulent experience, which makes you appropriately nervous and nauseous as we go through this rather terrifying storm – on that note, I pity anyone who goes to see this movie in 4DX – and Richet has a tight enough grasp on the boiling tension to leave you in a rather alarmed state. It doesn’t let up when things go from bad to worse in the second and third acts, with some brutal fight scenes shot impressively in what does look like a seamless single take, and a climax that features some insanely over-the-top moments of gore, like people being blown several feet back by a single sniper bullet, and even one character meeting their fate via the landing gear of the titular plane. The violence is certainly in keeping with the dour tone that has proven somewhat divisive among audiences of Butler’s recent work, but when it works, as it does here, it can be appropriately gnarly, and a fundamental reminder of the power of simplistic, borderline cartoonish violence in a heightened action universe.
The film does have some hinderances, though, which feel more like they were obligatory rather than entirely necessary. For instance, there’s a sub-plot set at the headquarters of the commercial airline that Butler’s character works for, where Tony Goldwyn and The Wire’s Paul-Ben Victor attempt to figure out where Butler and his plane have landed, and most of it seems like it’s just there to provide exposition that the audience either doesn’t need to know, or perhaps already knows from previous conversations between characters. Each time we cut away from what’s happening in the main plot to these scenes, it breaks the tension and takes you out of the moment, especially when you’d so much rather be by Butler’s side in certain parts. The movie certainly would have been more effective if we never left his character or the passengers he’s sworn to protect, which would have increased the levels of isolation that can sometimes help a film to succeed even further.
Beyond its sometimes unfortunate need to break away from some of the suspense, Plane is an entertaining and often thrilling B-movie experience, made all the more pleasurable by being exactly what it needs to be without many unnecessary add-ons, and continues Butler’s mission to keep an old-fashioned style of action storytelling alive in whichever ways he can.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Plane is an entertaining action-thriller that delivers every simplistic thing you’d expect from a film like this without compromising its straightforwardness, with some amusingly gnarly violence and intense sequences to satisfy most viewers.
