Plane Movie Review: Gerard Butler, Mike Colter Make for a Fun Dynamic-Duo in This Fairly Simple but Entertaining Action Thriller (LatestLY Exclusive)

Plane Movie Review: Not going to lie, going into Plane I hardly had any expectations from it, and yet when I walked away, I was surprisingly entertained by what I had just seen. It’s that Gerard Butler effect when you know that even if the film will just do the bare minimum, it’ll somehow manage to entertain you and deliver a fun experience that will just fly by, and that’s exactly what Plane is: 107 minutes of a rescue mission that certainly delivers on being a Gerard Butler film. The Pale Blue Eye Movie Review: Christian Bale, Harry Melling Excel in Netflix's Uneventful Murder-Mystery (LatestLY Exclusive).

Directed by Jean-Francois Richet from a script by Charles Cumming and JP Davis, we follow Pilot Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler), a man who used to fly for the army and now spends his days making commercial flights. He has to make an emergency landing after his passenger plane takes a bad hit during a storm. Quickly learning that the island that he has crash landed on is ruled by a militia, Brodie must free and team up with the on-board convicted murderer, Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), who he was tasked of transporting and keep his passengers safe.

In classic form, Gerard Butler’s Brodie Torrance is someone whom you can easily root for. Brodie doesn’t really get that much of a backstory here aside from bits of his wife passing away a few years ago and him having a daughter back at home, but other than that, he is just a pilot who is trying to keep his crew and passengers safe. What we end up getting is a pretty effective protagonist with Butler doing what he does best: being an action hero. However, his story takes a hit when a side-plot with his daughter being in it gets involved, and it looks like Plane wants to do more with it, but can’t regulate much time to its development.

On the other hand, Mike Colter of Luke Cage fame gets enough time to revel in the spotlight. Since he is playing a convict, there is a nice redeeming layer to him, even though the film never really goes too deep into his past which also goes for every other character present here. It’s surface layer at best, yet these actors carry a particular charm to them that makes their screen presence worth it. Tony Goldwyn for example, plays the role of Scarsdale, a former special forces officer leading the rescue mission, and while the role is small, his impact feels huge on the plot.

Watch the Trailer for Plane:

The story for Plane picks up quite fast too actually. Beginning with passengers being loaded on board and then treated to a tense scene featuring Brodie maneuvering the plane through a storm, it made for an effective viewing that immediately got me into the movie, however, to its fault, the film moves at too quick of a pace that can leave many of its aspects undercooked. Not to mention, the militia over here feels like a bunch of generic bad guys who have no other objective than killing someone, especially the main villain played by Yoson An, who doesn’t seem to have an intimidating factor to him. It also packs in some pretty rough visuals, which just brings you out from the experience at times.

That’s not to say the story doesn’t deliver on the spectacle though. An uncut hand-to-hand action scene and some fun shootouts here and there, Plane packs in enough of a punch where you can sit in your seat and be entertained by Butler and Colter just taking out bad guys one-by-one. Avatar The Way of Water Movie Review: James Cameron's Sci-Fi Sequel Is a Spectacular Visual Treat That Revels in Deep World-Building! (LatestLY Exclusive).

The stakes are present over here, and Plane does occasionally teeter into the realm of predictability, yet it somehow manages to save itself by just being an enjoyable time. It does need to be said though that for a film that’s called Plane, it’s pretty weird that we spend like maybe 20% of the film in the aircraft. It’s just really hilarious for some reason, I don’t know why.

Yay!

Gerard Butler and Mike Colter

Really Enjoyable

Nay!

Undercooked Elements

Doesn’t Offer Anything New

Final Thoughts

For all its flaws, Plane very much surprised me. Just a straight up action adventure with Gerard Butler doing what he does best, I had fun with it. The plot does only offer the bare minimum, but it makes that bare minimum work extremely well, and if you want to just watch a good old action film that feels like its plucked straight from the '90s, then Plane is for you. Plane releases in theatres on January 13, 2023.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 12, 2023 09:41 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).