Is there any real reason to review Plane? Everyone on Earth knows whether or not they'd be interested in this film from the instant the trailer revealed its hilariously on-the-nose title. It's everything one would expect from its premise and absolutely nothing else. If nothing else, it sets a destination and flies non-stop straight to it.
Plane, originally known as The Plane, began life as a pitch by English spy novelist Charles Cumming. The idea was passed around for a while before landing at Lionsgate. Cumming stayed on as a writer, joined by Fighting Tommy Riley writer J. P. Davis. Director Jean-François Richet, best known for his loose 2005 remake of Assault on Precinct 13, joined the project without much fanfare.
Plane follows Brodie Torrance, a Scottish airline pilot who'll be taking off from Singapore. The film swiftly establishes all the default signifiers of his archetype; a daughter whose away at college, a dad's sense of humor, a dead wife, a history in the military, and a disdain for authority. The film then introduces the assorted passengers, though their personality traits and destinations rarely come up. The only one who matters is Louis Gaspare, a convicted murderer who was caught fleeing authorities abroad. While in transit, Torrance's plane is struck by lightning. The resulting plane crash is perhaps the high point of the film. It's long, tense, and genuinely harrowing. The film might honestly have been better as a 90-minute crash scene with more developed characters. Instead, as the poster mentions, the crash is only the beginning.
The eponymous plane and its surviving inhabitants make landfall on Jolo, a real island in the southwest Philippines that has really had trouble with terrorist groups. The film is scrupulously careful to avoid naming names or ideologies when it comes to the island's more violent inhabitants. On Jolo, Brodie and his new friends find that they have no means of contacting the outside world and a violent felon among their ranks. To solve both problems, Brodie brings Gaspare into the untamed jungle to find a means of communication. While they're away, the rest of the passengers are kidnaped by the unnamed militia. Torrance and Gaspare must work together to save the day and get off the island alive. In the meantime, the airline that sent Torrance to almost certain death works tirelessly to put out the PR fire and get their charges home safe. It's a simple premise and most people will guess every beat before it happens.
Appropriately enough, Gerard Butler is fully on autopilot in the lead role. He's already made this movie four or five times at this point, the hard part is probably remembering which generic cool guy name he's supposed to respond to this time. He's the go-to dad action star, able to convey desperation and fear while also handily winning every encounter. He's not as elegant as John Wick or as perfect as a Marvel hero, but he's still better than everyone else in the scene. Mike Colter is a bit more unique in his role. He's naturally charismatic, even as he's cast as the more morally gray hero of the two. The film straightforwardly declares that the circumstances of Gaspare's murder charges do not matter and dutifully never bothers to explore them. His primary character trait is pragmatism, as he's much more willing to do the grim work of violently eliminating the locals. There's not a lot to him in the text, but Colter's performance is doing a somewhat impressive job of implying a deeper story could exist. It's also a lot of fun to watch him wield a sledgehammer in combat like he's John Henry.
The on-the-ground action beats are fairly dull. A lot of the film feels pulled from a mid-tier PS3 game or a couple of forgotten Call of Duty levels. The video game elements include a couple of simultaneous stealth takedowns that feel like they should come with button prompts. The third act introduces a team of private military units that exist exclusively to increase the number of bullets flying. The villains are utterly stock stereotypes, the victims forget all of their traits as soon as they accept their new gig as living MacGuffins for the heroes, and the heroes are barely any more complex. Entire action sequences in this film could have been cut and pasted from a previous Gerard Butler vehicle and no one would notice. It really is exactly what one would expect from this premise, cast, and director. Take that for either the glowing praise or scathing criticism it is intended as.
Plane contains two or three fun scenes. The opening plane crash works very well and Colter gets a decent action beat or two. The rest is utterly disposable. One does not call a movie Plane without knowing exactly the type of schlock they're creating. One does not purchase a ticket for a movie called Plane without knowing in their heart of hearts whether it's their kind of schlock. Plane is like a good airline experience. Expedient, predictable, and completely free from surprises.
Plane
Plane is a 2023 action thriller starring Gerard Butler. Butler plays Brodie Torrance, a renowned pilot whose plane crashes into a war zone after getting stuck in a terrible storm. Mike Colter also stars in the film, whose character, Louis Gaspare, helps Brodie rescue the plane's passengers from the ongoing war.