Plane
Gerard Butler delivers the goods as an airline pilot in a nerve-racking thriller from Jean-François Richet.
Con airline: Mike Colter
Now that the awards’ season is drawing to a close, it’s time for a bit of light relief. In other words, the main course has been ordered – so how about some pudding? Plane is certainly a guilty pleasure: partly because it’s set on board a plane and partly because Gerard Butler is at the controls. There is a reassuring masculinity and warmth about Butler, and never more so than when he’s employing his own Scottish brogue. Here he plays airline pilot Brodie Torrance and he’s running late for his flight from Singapore to Tokyo. Helping to put us in the picture, he’s on the phone to his daughter explaining everything, before filling in the gaps with an introductory chat with his co-pilot, Samuel (Yoson An). So already we know it’s New Year’s Eve, the long-haul passengers are headed for Honolulu and Torrance is a widower, bent on meeting up with his daughter in Hawaii. He also says to his daughter (Haleigh Hekking), “hey, hey, there won’t be any delays,” and to his passengers: “no need to worry, these planes are pretty indestructible.” Which is tempting fate when you’re headlining an action-thriller directed by Jean-François Richet.
It was Richet who, in 2004, had the temerity to remake John Carpenter’s 1976 siege classic Assault on Precinct 13 and come up with a gut-wrenching adrenalin-workout worthy of its predecessor (which, for the record, was also set on New Year’s Eve). And Plane is not as dumb as it looks – and doesn’t spare us the lingo of the in-flight user’s manual. At least, it gives one the impression of being well-researched and Torrance certainly knows the difference between his transponder and his radar. Furthermore, Richet’s guerrilla-style filmmaking adds a documentary-like realism to the action.
In spite of the jocular manner adopted by the captain of Trailblazer Flight 119, there are a couple of troubling impediments. At a moment’s notice, a handcuffed giant of a man, Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), is ushered onto the plane with an accompanying police officer. On charges of homicide, Gaspare is potentially dangerous but should be secure so long as nothing out of the ordinary happens. And then there’s the warning of a storm over the South China Sea, although Torrance and Samuel are expected to “push through the serious weather” by flying above it. Of course, under such conditions anything could happen and it’s a miracle that most of these 130,000-pound (59,000 kg) behemoths arrive safely at their respective destinations. And with the estimated $370 billion loss to the aviation industry in 2020 alone, the business sector is unlikely to welcome a film like Plane. But for the cinemagoer, safely tucked behind his or her bucket of popcorn, there is a vicarious thrill to be back on a commercial flight, particularly in such a far-flung corner of the world with Gerard Butler in charge. Like many a Butler movie – that’s Butler as in B-movie – there’s a high quotient of action and suspense, delivered here with skill and efficiency. And while the constituents of the genre are all present and accounted for, there are a number of surprises thrown into the mix. It is, after all, what escapism is all about.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, Tony Goldwyn, Daniella Pineda, Paul Ben-Victor, Remi Adeleke, Joey Slotnick, Evan Dane Taylor, Claro De Los Reyes, Kelly Gale, Lilly Krug, Haleigh Hekking, Heather Seiffert, Tara Westwood.
Dir Jean-François Richet, Pro Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Marc Butan, Gerard Butler and Alan Siegel, Screenplay Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis, Ph Brendan Galvin, Pro Des Mailara Santana, Ed David Rosenbloom, Music Marco Beltrami and Marcus Trumpp, Costumes Errin Knight, Sound Roland Thai.
MadRiver Pictures/Olive Hill Media/Di Bonaventura Pictures/G-Base-Lionsgate.
107 mins. USA/UK. 2022. US Rel: 13 January 2023. UK Rel: 27 January 2023. Cert. 15.
