Plane
“Plane” is an action movie where the dumb title the only thing that’s memorable about it isn’t an artistic statement, it’s an alibi. All of its laziness with character development, plotting, action sequences, etc., suddenly seems quaint if not winking once it convinces you that it’s this stupid. Pitch it as Gerard Butler on a self-rescue mission to save his flight passengers and crew from angry Filipino militants after a crash landing, and the expectations lower themselves.
This rickety vehicle is produced by Gerard Butler (who seems to make these movies so he doesn’t have to wear superhero spandex or hurl himself off a cliff like Tom Cruise), and he’s done better as the last action hero of a certain type of movie. But throughout “Plane,” which should be wilder; it should revel more in its own stupidity being so open, there’s so much junky concept that eventually embraces ’80s action storytelling firmer than a handshake in “Predator” while passing up opportunities for free genre pass moments where director Jean-François Richet is not so much coasting but rushing to get itself over with.
Things are looking up for “Plane” when it’s gearing up for a big crash. Plane our main hero gets struck by lightning in some brutal weather; knocks out power and dooms itself to an unforeseen landing. The 14 passengers start freaking out progressively more with each new delay announcement made by Brodie (whose intercom jokes are Southwest Airlines-grade at best), someone thinks they can outwit seatbelts; people come closer and closer to death. Cut with punchy glad you aren’t there intensity, a couple illustrative stunts nasty things involving heads and neck trauma make damn sure gravity isn’t tested anywhere near this plane. Brodie executes some macho maneuvering; has Yoson An clock 10 minutes before they eventually crash land on a remote island in the Philippines.
It gets mighty strange for “Plane” during its tumultuous descent, when it shows a closeup of a drafted text message but not long enough for us to read whatever it says. But that’s more of a clue that no characters have any important point to this story, except maybe for a captured fugitive named Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), who is handcuffed to an officer at the back of the plane. His history of homicide comes in handy later when they land in progressively more hostile territory than where you stranded Americans would normally be able to find help. With his history in the RAF and a gun secretly in his pants, Brodie brings him along through mysterious terrain.
Nothing shifts for them until they’ve made their communications breakthrough at a shady warehouse (bullets on the floor, not great). A bad guy sneaks up from behind and tries to kill Brodie; impressive scuffle ensues with the camera mostly holding on Butler’s face as he wrestles with this bigger dude in tight quarters. But nothing is as exciting or long lasting from here on out, not even when Richet tries heightening the danger with some merciless militia men who roll up and kidnap Brodie’s passengers and crew.
“Plane” rushes through its emotional and explosive beats so that it can get to the next crisis without having to fill out the previous one, and it wildly skims on the good stuff in the process. Hostage situations are quickly fixed, dull gunfire exchanges are executed as if they were shot on different days, and even Colter’s stiff, quiet killer only has his silence to make his stiffness remotely interesting as he doesn’t get much of an arc despite the ominous promise at the beginning. It’s just a bunch of action filmmaking gruel, presenting the jungle terrain with a color tint that matches the dank sweat on Butler’s t-shirt.
The biggest scene stealer, really, is Gun, a quite large rifle brought by some airline-hired American black ops dudes who later appear, and which can fire bullets that rocket through car doors and exploding rib cages. Gun has a sounder dramatic arc than any other heroes in this assortment of action figurines and scowling cardboard cutouts and at least provides gory over the top violence like “Rambo” (2008), given the film’s sleazy evolution. (My preview audience audibly adored Gun more than everything and everyone else in “Plane.”) Everyone else on screen, from Butler’s simply exhausted pilot to Colter’s fugitive maybe looking for redemption to the super-scowling Filipino militia leader named Junmar (Evan Dane Taylor), is treated with such little sincerity by the script that you almost start to feel bad for them.
Meanwhile, at Trailblazer Air headquarters back in New York City, the film props up its message that airline companies, not just their pilots, are ready to go to war for you. A group of people sits around a U shape table with ominous lighting. The airline’s CEO, Hampton (Paul Ben-Victor), uses his list of contacts trying to locate and then protect the passengers, including those American guys who come with their own equipment. A no-BS PR hotshot named Scarsdale, played by Tony Goldwyn, has all the answers and plenty of ‘tude, too, like when he barks, “If you have New Year’s Eve Plans, I just canceled them.” It’s telling how these scenes are filmed with the same feeling of a board room in one of Butler’s “Olympus Has Fallen” movies. Like the other bits of wonky heroism in the disappointing vacation that is “Plane,” it makes for an exaggerated joke with no punchline.
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