Gerard Butler goes from pilot to punishment as his plane lands on a war-torn island but is it worth the watch? Here’s our PLANE review.
In the white-knuckle action movie Plane, pilot Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler) saves his passengers from a lightning strike by making a risky landing on a war-torn island – only to find that surviving the landing was just the beginning.
When most of the passengers are taken hostage by dangerous rebels, the only person Torrance can count on for help is Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), a convicted murderer who was being transported by the FBI. Discovering there’s more to Gaspare than meets the eye, it will be up to both men to rescue everyone.
PLANE is a film that will fly over the heads of many folks this generation as there’s just something about it that feels as though it’s been plucked straight from the 90s / early 2000s.
Action front and centre and Gerard Butler at least pretending he’s not a badass for large parts of the introductions before jumping straight back into his typecast role with a Scottish frown, a shitty attitude and some kick-ass moves.
This no-nonsense movie throws out the story, you don’t care about any character in it whatsoever you just want to see action, plane crashes, bandits and wild gun shootouts and more. If that’s not your thing you’re going to hate PLANE.
Why bulk out a film with a story? Psh. Let’s shoot some stuff up instead. It’s a lean-trimmed flick and in that aspect, it delivers.
One snide remark about the British from Gerard’s mouth before takeoff had me rooting for the bad guys before we’d even seen them though. Keep them thoughts to yourself Gerard if you want this PLANE review to go smoothly.
Not like my little website will have ANY impact on the success of the movie as PLANE has grossed $51.6M from its $25M budget. People want mindless action movies now and again and this absolutely proved it.
The action sequences are shot well, in fact the entire movie is shot well except for some cutaway scenes to the plane itself which looks like bargain bucket CGI at best.
A Scottish pilot with a military background one second and a man stuck in the Philippines the next with nothing but a convict on board who he’ll form a bond with in about 10 seconds flat. Believable. Of course. Let’s roll with it.
They’re in a place that just can’t be found in a lawless bandit country where governments are too scared to send a search party. In a 5-second phonecall, there’s a special team sent out to rescue them, find them immediately and then the escape begins.
It all feels a bit rushed and lazy in script form but it’s fun and it doesn’t look out of place against any cheesy action movie of the 90s.
PLANE is a great start with a bumpy landing. It’s cliche, it’s corny, it’s hilariously cheesy on the eyes in places but it’s great fun and I can’t argue with that.
Grab a pizza, a few beers and a few friends and just kick back and relax with this relentless little action flick.
Plane is directed by Jean-François Richet (The Emperor of Paris, Mesrine: Killer Instinct); Produced by Alastair Burlingham (Moonfall), Gerard Butler (Olympus Has Fallen), Marc Butan (Triple 9), Michael Cho (WeWork); Starring Gerard Butler (Olympus Has Fallen), Mike Colter (Luke Cage), Yoson An (Mulan), Daniella Pineda (Jurassic World: Dominion), Paul Ben-Victor (The Irishman).
PLANE Review by Sean Evans
Our Rating
Summary
PLANE is mindless action and I’m all here for it but sadly I can’t overlook the poor script, poor CGI cutaways and the fact that the whole movie is based on Brodie and Louis Gaspare’s relationship without even so much as diving into Gaspare’s whole reason for being there… well… I threw story out the window (along with my brain) and enjoyed some mindless (and well shot) action sequences.
