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Plane charts a standard action-adventure course with its cruising altitude just a few miles above Direct-to-Video -- but with Gerard Butler in the cockpit, thriller enthusiasts will still find this a fun flight.

Check your critical thinking at the gate: The plot's preposterous and loaded with entertaining action, making Plane plenty of good old-fashioned fun.

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Jean-François Richet

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Brodie Torrance

Mike Colter

Louis Gaspare

Daniella Pineda

Paul Ben-Victor

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"Plane" is the case of an action movie in which the dumb title—the most memorable thing about it—isn't an artistic statement, it's an alibi. If it can convince you that it's so simple, suddenly all of its laziness with character development, plotting, action sequences, etc., seems quaint, if not knowing. Add the pitch of Gerard Butler on a self-rescue mission, saving his flight passengers and crew from angry Filipino militants after a crash landing, and the expectations lower themselves.  

This rickety vehicle is produced by Butler, who seems to make these movies to avoid wearing superhero spandex or having to hurl himself off a cliff like Tom Cruise . He's fared better as a last action hero of a certain type of movie, and the biggest problem with "Plane" throughout is that it isn't wilder; it does not revel appropriately enough in its open dumbness. For its junky concept that eventually embraces '80s action storytelling firmer than a handshake in " Predator ," there are so many missed moments in which director Jean-François Richet attempts to get a free genre pass isn't so much as coasting but rushing to get itself over with.  

Things are looking up for "Plane" when it's gearing up for a big crash. Our main hero—Plane—is struck by lightning in a large spat of brutal weather, knocking out its power and dooming it to an unforeseen landing. With more of an air of "I can't believe this bad service," the 14 passengers on board start to freak out progressively; things become even direr when someone thinks they can outwit seatbelts. The sequence is cut with a punchy, glad-you-aren't-there intensity, and a couple of illustrative stunts—nasty things involving heads and neck trauma—make a firm point not to test gravity. Butler's pilot Brodie Torrance, who kicked off the flight with some Southwest Airlines-grade jokes over the intercom, executes some macho maneuvering and has his co-pilot Samuel ( Yoson An ) clock the ten minutes they have before they eventually crash land on a remote island in the Philippines.  

During this tumultuous descent, it's mighty strange when "Plane" 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 hint that no characters have any important point to this story, aside, maybe, from a captured fugitive named Louis Gaspare ( Mike Colter ), who is handcuffed to an officer at the back of the plane. His history of committing homicide comes later in handy when the flight lands in progressively hostile territory. Brodie, with his history in the RAF and a gun secretly in his pants, brings him along the mysterious terrain to find help. Butler and Colter proceed to fend off plainly bad guys, with little chemistry between them in the process. 

Everything shifts for them when, after making a communications breakthrough at a shady warehouse (bullets on the floor, not a great sign), a bad guy sneaks up from behind and tries to kill Brodie. The scuffle that ensues is impressive, 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, even when Richet tries to heighten the danger with 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.  

Now playing in theaters . 

Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

Plane (2023)

Rated R for violence and language.

107 minutes

Gerard Butler as Brodie Torrance

Mike Colter as Louis Gaspare

Yoson An as Dele

Tony Goldwyn as Scarsdale

Daniella Pineda as Bonnie

Paul Ben-Victor as Hampton

Remi Adeleke as Shellback

Joey Slotnick as Sinclair

Evan Dane Taylor as Junmar

Claro de los Reyes as Hajan

Haleigh Hekking as Daniela Torrance

• Jean-François Richet

Writer (story by)

• Charles Cumming

Cinematographer

• Brendan Galvin
• David Rosenbloom
• Marco Beltrami
• Marcus Trumpp

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‘Plane’ Review: A High-Flying Action Movie as Sturdy as Its Star, Gerard Butler

He plays a pilot forced to make an emergency landing, at which point the trouble really starts.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

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Ever since the ’80s, action films have been overwhelmingly basic in concept, execution, and title. So when you hear that the new Gerard Butler film is called “Plane,” you’d be forgiven for thinking that you can run the entire movie through your head in the blink of an eye. Gerard Butler on a plane (check). He’s probably the pilot (check). There’s probably a criminal onboard (check). The film will be a low-flying, B-grade “Air Force One,” with Butler’s windpipe-smashing grizzled lug saving the day in the same way that Harrison Ford’s heroically resourceful chief executive did.

Actually, no.

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But wouldn’t you know it, he spots land. An island of jungle terrain with a road snaking right through the middle of it. How convenient! Putting on his Sully Sullenberger cap, Brodie is able to make an emergency landing, using the road as a makeshift runway and stranding the shorted-out plane and its 14 passengers on what turns out to be Jolo, a remote island in the Philippines controlled by a ragtag militia of separatist renegades.

Butler is 53 now, and his hardass Scottish valor is aging like fine wine — or, at least, pretty good ale. He has a warm and fuzzy side, which comes out in Brodie’s phone chats with his collegiate daughter, Daniela (Haleigh Hekking), who he was supposed to rendezvous with after the flight. He makes contact with her again in one of the film’s best scenes, set in an abandoned communications hut in the middle of the jungle, where Brodie, in just a few minutes, is able to rewire the phone line, so that he can place a call to Trailblazer Airlines. A war room of corporate troubleshooters, led by a former Special Forces officer played by Tony Goldwyn (who’s like Ryan Seacrest’s sinewy sibling), is standing by, trying to pinpoint the vanished plane’s location. But Brodie, in a distressingly funny scene, gets hooked up to an annoying 21st-century company operator who won’t cooperate with him. (She thinks he’s a prank caller.) So he’s forced to call Daniela.

Even when the Trailblazer folks figure out where the plane is, they can’t just swoop in for the rescue. The Philippines government won’t cooperate; only mercenaries will go in there. Which means that Brodie essentially has to fight the rebels by himself, though he does deputize a partner: Louis, the killer in handcuffs, played by the charismatic Mike Colter, who makes this bruiser a wronged man who nevertheless keeps you guessing. The rest of the passengers cower and bicker — or, in the case of the arrogant businessman Sinclair (Joey Slotnick), bark out orders until the rebels, led by Dele (Yoson An), the short-fused commander who’s like a penny-ante Che Guevara, reduce him to wimpy subservience. They need ransom money to fund their war, a plan that Brodie undercuts with fists, machine guns, surgical espionage timing and extreme piloting skills. “Plane” is fodder, but the picture brazens through its own implausibilities, carried along — and occasionally aloft — by Gerard Butler’s squinty dynamo resolve.

Reviewed at the Park Avenue Screening Room, Jan. 6, 2023. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 107 MIN.

• Production: A Lionsgate release of a MadRiver Pictures, Olive Hill Media, Di Bonaventura Pictures, G-BASE Film Productions production. Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Marc Butan, Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, Jason Constantine, Eda Kowan, Luillo Ruiz. Executive producers: Alastair Burlingham, Michael Cho, J.P. Davis, Vicki Dee Rock, Edward Fee, Tim Lee, Osita O, Gary Raskin.
• Crew: Director: Jean-François Richet. Screenplay: Charles Cumming, J.P. Davis. Camera: Brendan Galvin. Editor: David Rosenbloom. Music: Marco Beltrami, Marcus Trumpp.
• With: Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, Evan Dane Taylor, Tony Goldwyn, Daniella Pineda, Paul Ben-Victor, Joey Slotnik.

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Plane nails three things: planes, kicking ass, and planes

Gerard Butler’s still got it, baby

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The folks involved with the new action movie Plane , starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter , are very proud of the plane. Butler claimed in a recent interview that he fought to keep the title — which, in the handful of times I’ve seen the trailer in theaters, universally elicits laughter — and even called the titular transport “the star of the film.”

Naturally, that sounds ridiculous. Watch the movie, though, and one might start to believe him: The first 20 minutes are full of plane minutiae, like preflight checks, flight attendant rituals, crew small talk, annoying passengers, and lots of accurate-sounding radio chatter. It’s the Chef’s Table of plane movies, until it turns into the Rio Bravo of plane movies.

Like an actual commercial aircraft, Plane does not look like much, but it’s also wildly efficient. Butler plays Brodie Torrance, a longtime pilot for the fictional Trailblazer Airways, knocking out one last New Year’s Eve flight before making his way to see his daughter for an overdue visit. Unfortunately, his lightly attended flight encounters two complications: Louis Gaspare ( Evil ’s Colter ), an accused murderer being extradited by the FBI, and a severe storm that forces Brodie to crash-land on a remote island near the Philippines run by a ruthless warlord. When said warlord discovers the plane, he takes the passengers hostage, missing only Brodie and Louis. The movie unfolds from there with a simple mission: Get the passengers out, get them back on the plane, and figure out a way to get it back in the air and to safety again.

Once Plane reaches cruising altitude (not sorry), the most surprising thing about it is its straight-faced execution. Neither overly serious nor entirely humorless, Plane is a movie that adores competence, where the heroes are consummate professionals and the people who get in their way are either terrorists or idiots, or worse, government idiots. This is beautifully summed up in a subplot where Trailblazer executives go into crisis mode in order to address the missing aircraft, a meeting that is effectively overtaken by corporate fixer Scarsdale (Tony Goldwyn). The third hero of Plane , Scarsdale does not have patience for governments or corporate face-saving, giving the film much of both its humor and its action — the former by steamrolling the suits in the room, the latter by hiring a crew of private military operatives to help extract the passengers.

None of this detracts from Butler and Colter as the brawny action heroes upon whose shoulders Plane rests. Both actors are deft enough to make their characters feel like vulnerable flesh and blood — Butler as the world-weary and desperate idealist, and Colter as the wrongfully accused and highly skilled pragmatist. Their dynamic is fun without being funny, as Brodie is forced to trust Louis out of necessity, and Louis has every reason to ditch Brodie but recognizes that their odds of survival are better together. Mirroring the real-life actors portraying them, the two feel like underappreciated pros paired together by chance, neither waiting for nor expecting recognition yet committed to the art of ass-kicking. Director Jean-François Richet brings confidence to the cockpit (OK, sorry), guiding Plane with a steady hand. The movie’s drama efficiently ratchets up the tension for its action to hit hard and move on. Again: Like an actual plane, it’s a marvel of craftsmanship so unobtrusive that it’s easily mistaken for mundanity.

I would watch Brodie Torrance and Louis Gaspare save a new vehicle together every year, especially if it’s a movie that has a final-act shootout as good as Plane ’s, where they’re covered by a video game-ass sniper laying waste to generic terrorists with a fucking huge gun. If Plane was this good, sign me up for Boat .

Plane is now playing in theaters.

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‘Plane’ Review: Flight, Camera, Action

In this thriller, Gerard Butler and Mike Colter have to avoid a hostage situation and deliver a plane full of passengers to safety.

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By Glenn Kenny

Jesters on social media have already begun chortling about this movie’s minimalist title. Where did the snakes go ?

The movie’s basic designation is not without precedent. Some of you may remember “Airport” and its several sequels. Most of those movies spent the majority of their time in the air rather than in the terminal, so maybe it figures that most of the action in this thriller, directed by Jean-François Richet and starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter (“Luke Cage”), is set on the ground.

The twist is that this ground is unsafe in a way that a boarding gate rarely is. Butler plays Brodie, a pilot whose Singapore-to-Tokyo flight — after which he is to reunite with his beloved daughter, because of course — is downed by violent weather. With his co-pilot and fellow family man Dele (Yoson An), Brodie manages a landing on an unidentified island run by “separatists and militias,” whose leader, Junmar (Evan Dane Taylor), has the nasty habit of ransoming, and sometimes killing, hostages. Brodie, determined to deliver his passengers to safety, powers through the jungle in search of a way to communicate with home.

If you guessed that the handcuffed convict who’s part of the flight’s manifest is actually a not-wholly-bad guy looking for a shot at redemption, go to the head of the class. Playing that part, Colter makes a good match with the stalwart Butler. Half a world away, Tony Goldwyn clenches his jaw in a kitted-out corporate conference room as the only honest crisis manager in the airline biz.

This is a pacey item that can be recommended on the grounds that it’s a January release that’s not even close to awful. “Plane” sinks (or rises, depending on your perspective) to “hell yeah” ridiculousness only at the end, delivering a punchline that lands at the right time.

Plane Rated R for bloody violence and language. Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes. In theaters.

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‘plane’ review: gerard butler genre pic gets the job done.

Mike Colter co-stars in this action thriller about an airline pilot desperately trying to protect his passengers from violent militants after a crash landing.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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It’s a wonder that Gerard Butler is able to purchase any insurance. After all, bad things seem to happen to him, or at least his screen persona, all the time. Whether he’s playing a Secret Service agent or an Everyman, Butler can’t seem to avoid getting in more tight spots than anyone since Bruce Willis’ John McClane. In his newest film, Plane , Butler plays an airline pilot, so you can rest assured that his flight is not going to go smoothly.

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The film dispenses with backstory, save for a brief introductory phone conversation between pilot Brodie Torrance (Butler) and his teenage daughter (Haleigh Hekking) as he’s rushing through airport security. It’s New Year’s Eve, which perhaps accounts for the fact that the plane is one of the least crowded in aviation history, with little more than a dozen passengers. Even more incongruously, all of them are relatively young and in good shape (not an elderly person in sight), which makes them well-suited for the action-movie machinations that ensue. Among their ranks is Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), a handcuffed prisoner being extradited for a murder charge who’s escorted by an armed FBI agent.

Thanks to an airline executive more interested in saving money than allowing the plane to make a detour to avoid inclement weather, Brodie and his young co-pilot (Yoson An, Mulan ) soon find themselves flying through a severe storm. When a lightning strike cuts the plane’s power, they’re forced to make a miraculous emergency landing. The problem is that they’ve landed on a small island in the Philippines controlled by separatist rebels, with the airline having no idea where they are.

It’s all ridiculous hokum, with the villainous rebels led by the sort of head honcho who screams “Wake up the island!” when he wants to make sure that he has plenty of forces at his disposal. But director Jean-Francois Richet (the Mesrine films) orchestrates the violent mayhem with impressive skill, infusing the action sequences with a spatial coherency that makes them genuinely exciting, especially a hand-to-hand fight scene shot in a single take in which Brodie and a terrorist pummel each other for two punishing minutes.

Screenwriters Charles Cumming and J.P. David provide a solid narrative structure, mostly avoiding cliches save for some stereotypical characterizations such as the requisite a-hole passenger (played by Joey Slotnick, who’s made a specialty of this sort of thing) and a couple of young women constantly glued to their phones. They even manage to infuse some genuine emotionalism into the fast-paced proceedings, especially with the growing mutual respect and rapport between Brodie and his unlikely ally, at whose motivations we’re constantly guessing.

By now, Butler is an expert at conveying an effective combination of badassery and vulnerability, making his character’s heroics convincing. Colter has physical presence to spare as the enigmatic Gaspare, and Goldwyn clearly seems to be having a good time as the sort of no-nonsense executive who makes it clear he’s superior to everyone else in the room.

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Review: In ‘Plane,’ action star Gerard Butler once again sticks the landing

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The villains of the 2022 holiday season were the airlines, so it’s an apt moment for the Gerard Butler action vehicle “Plane” to take flight. The film’s inciting incident involves a cost-cutting safety checker at Trailblazer Airlines insisting that Captain Brodie Torrance (Butler) pilot through a storm instead of around it in order to save fuel during a New Year’s flight from Singapore to Tokyo. Of course, since this is a Gerard Butler action film, the passengers on Trailblazer Flight 119 don’t end up stranded for days in an airport but rather fighting for their lives on a remote island in the Philippines ruled by a separatist militia whose primary source of income is hostages.

Not to worry though, because Butler’s Brodie isn’t your average airline pilot — he’s an airline pilot who can kill bad guys with his bare hands. Plus, he has backup in the form of Mike Colter, and the two actors make a fine, fun and appealingly masculine pair in “Plane.”

Consider this meet-cute: Brodie Torrance is a widowed former Royal Air Force pilot stuck flying long-haul budget flights thanks to a viral video in which he put down an unruly passenger with a chokehold (his signature move, as we’ll come to find out). Louis Gaspare (Colter) is a convicted murderer who has been on the lam for 15 years, now being extradited from Bali to the United States. When Louis ends up on Brodie’s flight, sparks fly (from machine gun fire) as they battle the aforementioned separatist militia to save the passengers and get Brodie back to his daughter (Haleigh Hekking) in Hawaii.

Jean-François Richet’s “Plane” is as efficient, economical and effective as its title, which is a good one, actually — clear, descriptive, communicates what the film is about. The characterization in the screenplay by Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis is lean to the point of scanty, but we’re given just enough to suffice, and any more would be overkill.

Much like the aircraft itself for the majority of “Plane,” this taut thriller remains grounded and gritty, and once we’re on land, Puerto Rico — subbing for the Philippines — offers a sense of texture and realism to the humid setting. Richet methodically strings the tension, alternating with bursts of chaotic violence, showing us that Brodie is capable of both method and madness. Sometimes it’s a carefully orchestrated and silent extraction of hostages; sometimes it’s a brutal, bruising brawl as Brodie wrestles an assailant into submission, captured in a single handheld take. Butler’s fighting style is similar to the film’s: brawny, unshowy, effectual and explosive only when necessary.

Far away from the steamy Filipino jungles, we see the inner workings of the Trailblazer war room, headed up by Tony Goldwyn in full hambone mode as crisis manager David Scarsdale, bossing around the top exec (Paul Ben-Victor) and calling in the mercenaries. With Butler’s stoic heroism, plus the behind-the-scenes corporate jockeying, “Plane” feels like the action-thriller version of “Sully” with a nod toward Tobias Lindholm’s “A Hijacking,” but without the bleak condemnation of a corporate culture that negotiates the price of human lives.

The villains on the ground are a group of bloodthirsty rebels with great hair, and the leader, Junmar (Evan Dane Taylor), is so cool you almost want to root for him (considering they crashed onto his island), but there is, of course, the murdering of innocent hostages. However, don’t expect any political nuance or social commentary out of “Plane.” If you go into it expecting nothing more than to enjoy watching a sweaty Butler manhandle some bad guys while Colter manhandles him, you’ll be more than satisfied with the ride “Plane” offers — a well-executed hunk of pulpy entertainment.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Rated: R, for violence and language Running time: 1 hour, 47 minutes Playing: Starts Jan. 13 in general release

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Plane. Movie. Review. Good.

Plane fall. people fight. critic happy..

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January is generally seen as a fallow time of year for film fans. Most studios are more focused on pumping out awards season contenders — artful films with complicated views of the human condition. If you're in the mood for something more straightforward, may I point you to the uncomplicated pleasures of Plane.  

That's right.  Plane.  

Sure they could have called it "Terror at 30,000 Feet," "Turbulence" or "Runway of Death." 

But Plane says what needs to be said. (The working title was The Plane.  For real.) 

It's a movie about a plane. A plane that falls out of the sky after a lightning strike, leading to a crash landing on a dangerous island south of the Philippines. 

Now a movie such as  Plane requires a hero. But who? It's a peculiar time for action stars. Bruce Willis's  a cting days are behind him . There's only so many kidnapping victims Liam Neeson can save, while Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is more focused on feuding with DC.  

The 'Old Navy' of action heroes

Enter Gerard Butler. The Old Navy store of action heroes. Like that old hoodie you find yourself coming back to, there's a worn-in quality to Butler that improves with age. The Scottish actor has come a long way since he and his abs aplenty bellowed "This is Sparta" in Frank Miller's  300 . At 53 years old, there's a rumpled and rugged presence to Butler that suits the put-upon characters he plays. 

Through the years he's serviced a whole spectrum of spectacular schlock from the unstoppable secret service agent Mike Banning of the Olympus has Fallen  franchise to the killer of Law Abiding Citizen. 

Like Harrison Ford, Butler is at his best when things are at their worst. The jingoistic charms of bulletproof Mike Banning are fine, but Butler is better as an average Joe, such as the dad from the 2020's disaster film Greenland . 

Plane finds him firmly in John McClane  mode, playing a pilot trying to get home in time for New Years for a long overdue reunion with his daughter.  

When the aforementioned lightning strike derails those plans, the film pivots into survival mode. On the film's manifest is the requisite collection of thinly-sketched characters/passengers; the annoying business guy, the hothead European, the selfie-happy millennials. But at the back of the plane in handcuffs sits Louis Gaspare, a convicted murderer who is being extradited. Mike Colter plays Gaspare with a simmering stare. You may remember him from the Luke Cage  Marvel series or recently on the show Evil . 

After the crash landing the passengers and crew face a new threat. The Jolo Island is home to a well-armed group of pirates who fund their operations by hunting for hostages. Short on options, Captain Torrance (a former member of the RAF) soon joins forces with Gaspare, who just happens to have spent time with the French Legion (!) to save the day.

Not a bromance

Plane is not an overly ambitious film. Like the title, it knows what it wants to do and gets the job done. It would be overselling things to describe what Butler and Colter have as a bromance. Instead there's a begrudging atmosphere of practicality. The jungle is filled with bad guys. Someone has taken the civilians. Let's find them and kill them. 

 Director Jean-Francois Richet smoothly ratchets up the tension as the film cuts back home to airline headquarters where Tony Goldwyn plays the fast-talking corporate troubleshooter who begins deploying resources, adding a team of mercenaries into the mix. Soon the body count and the tempo of  Plane  increases. 

While it would be a stretch to call  Plane gritty, it takes its time establishing the bona fides of the flight crew getting certain details right that will inevitably pay off later. The camera doesn't linger over the dire consequences of the crash, instead moving quickly to the tale of the captain versus the captors. With a brisk 107 minutes runtime, there's a sense of momentum that's refreshing in an age of bloated three-hour blockbusters. 

In the end,  Plane delivers exactly what it promises. There is a plane and a pilot. Plenty of predicaments and a satisfying thrill ride that arrives with time to spare.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Senior entertainment reporter

Eli Glasner is the senior entertainment reporter and screentime columnist for CBC News. Covering culture has taken him from the northern tip of Moosonee Ontario to the Oscars and beyond.  You can reach him at [email protected].

• More by this author

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Screen Rant

Plane review: butler & colter star in mindless, entertaining action thriller.

The film is funny at times and violent in others, but it lives up to the standard entertainment factor, yielding the first pleasant surprise of 2023.

Scottish action star Gerard Butler plays the brave and determined pilot, Brodie Torrance, in Jean-François Richet’s action thriller, Plane . Forced to preemptively land his commercial aircraft after it suffers mechanical issues during a lightning storm, Torrance pulls out all the stops to keep his passengers safe. Written by Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis, the film combines the best of early action filmmaking with gritty storytelling in a way that will compel viewers to flock to theaters. The film is funny at times and violent in others, but most importantly, it lives up to the standard entertainment factor, yielding the first pleasant surprise of 2023.

The story follows Brodie as he makes a risky landing on a war-torn island in the Sulu Archipelago, resulting in his surviving passengers being taken hostage by threatening rebels. His only hope to save them is Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), an accused murderer with a history of military training. Louis also happens to be in transport by the FBI as he is considered dangerous, which proves to be useful in the long run. Together, they traverse through the jungle and unknown threats to retrieve the passengers as they await rescue from an unlikely resource.

Related: Gerard Butler & Mike Colter Interview: Plane

Set mostly on an aircraft or island, Plane is a result of anxiety-inducing action sequences and fun banter among the film’s two leads. As a whole, Davis and Cumming’s story has a great deal going for it. The script is easy to follow, the stakes are high, and there’s non-stop action to keep viewers entertained. But underneath this adrenaline-powered film lies a story about a regular guy trying to do the right thing with the little resources available to him. And as is, this element makes it easy to cheer for the leads and enjoy some great surprises along the way.

As the film progresses, more limitations become apparent with respect to character depth. For example, it is revealed early on that Butler’s Brodie is trying to get to home to spend New Year’s Eve with his daughter Daniela (Haleigh Hekking). Comments like “I’m glad we’re doing this” from his daughter indicate a reconnection that they’re trying to build. Yet, there aren’t many moments in which the relationship between the pair becomes central to Brodie’s characterization. Incorporating such human elements would have strengthened the script even further — even if used in simple dialogue. It’s a missed opportunity to say the least.

As a result of some characterization shortcomings, the film tends to lag in its second act. Moments that would have been perfect to understand who Brodie and Louis are as individuals (outside their current circumstances) rarely happen. This introduces some pacing issues that are too obvious to ignore. Still, plenty of compelling moments follow, with brutal scenes to showcase just how dangerous their situation is. Given these various shifts in pacing and flaws within how certain characters are written, the viewing experience for Plane isn’t entirely balanced. Yet, it’s satisfying enough to be a pleasant surprise for audiences.

The latest white-knuckle action thriller from Lionsgate brings a certain rush. From the thrilling plane sequences and combat scenes to the subtle humor throughout, Plane is the kind of mindless entertainment that viewers will welcome to start their new year. There are plenty of stakes throughout this simple story to justify a viewing in theaters thanks to fun surprises within. Additionally, early promises of keeping viewers on the edge of their seat are thoroughly fulfilled from beginning to end. And though it runs out of steam during its second act, Butler and company do everything they can to keep the energy going, closing out the film with a well-earned bang.

More: The Old Way Review: Donowho’s Standard American Western Has Heart & Humor

Plane releases in theaters on January 13. The film is 107 minutes long and rated R for violence and language.

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• DVD & Streaming
• Action/Adventure , Drama

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In Theaters

• January 13, 2023
• Gerard Butler as Brodie Torrance; Mike Colter as Louis Gaspare; Daniella Pineda as Bonnie; Yoson An as Dele; Tony Goldwyn as Scarsdale; Paul Ben-Victor as Hampton; Evan Dane Taylor as Junmar

Home Release Date

• February 3, 2023
• Jean-François Richet

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Movie review.

Capt. Brodie Torrance may look like any average, nice-guy pilot as he welcomes his passengers onboard. He may even sound like your typical dad-joke spewing dude while chuckling over the plane’s intercom system.

But he’s more than that.

Truth is, Brodie is pretty no-nonsense when it comes to the safety of his plane, his crew and his passengers. If some drunken idiot gets too loud and starts throwing punches during a flight, Brodie has the experience and wherewithal to handle the situation in whatever way is necessary. He knows his stuff, even when it doesn’t follow the exact letter of the airline’s policy-book law.

And in this case, that’s a very good thing. While piloting his Trailblazer Airlines flight from Singapore to Japan, his plane gets struck by lightning. That devastating electrical hit fries the plane’s avionics. It sends passengers cartwheeling through the cabin, two of them in deadly ways. And it causes the crippled plane to necessarily swoop toward the ocean below, with only 10 minutes of direct battery power keeping it aloft.

It’s Brodie’s skill alone that spots a fog-shrouded little patch of land in the Jolo Island cluster and miraculously sets the huge aircraft down relatively intact.

This, however, is only the tip of Capt. Brodie Torrance’s challenge. Because now he has a plane-full of passengers to care for on an island run by separatist’s and thugs—an island so dangerous that the Filipino government won’t even dare to send its army there anymore.

Trailblazer Airlines flight 119 doesn’t have an army, however. It doesn’t have an armory of weapons. It doesn’t even have any sharp eating utensils. All flight 119 has is Captain Brodie Torrance. And that will have to be enough.

Positive Elements

We meet one other person on the plane with military experience, a guy named Louis Gaspare. The problem is that Gaspare is a fugitive being transported back to the states for a murder he committed 15 years ago. (His police escort is killed in the lightning strike on the plane.) Despite that, Brodie decides to uncuff the man in hopes that his experience will help them all stay alive.

Gaspare and Brodie work together (risking their own lives) to fight off the aggressive killers on the island and save the plane’s passengers. Several other female crewmember risk themselves to help the passengers as well. Both Brodie and his co-pilot are motivated by pictures of family members they love.

Spiritual Elements

A small group of people state that they are missionaries.

Sexual Content

A flight attendant hides the flight manifest inside her shirt, keeping it from the separatists.

Violent Content

When lightning first hits Brodie’s plane, we see people cartwheeling around the plane cabin. Two passengers seemingly break their necks when striking hard surfaces. Brodie gets slammed into an overhead bin and cuts his brow, it bleeds freely.

All in all, though, the majority of injuries and deaths are caused by gunfire after the plane lands on the island. (That combat occurs between the island separatists, Brodie and Gaspare, and a well-equipped rescue team of hired mercenaries.) We see people bloodied, wounded and killed on a regular basis by men brandishing pistols and rifles. In fact, one large gunfight results in scores of people being shot. Several are killed with rifle shots to the head, causing large blood spatters. A large-caliber, high-powered rifle is used to stop vehicles and then to blast open people standing behind the vehicles.

Some characters fight hand to hand, battering and strangling each other. Gaspare and Brodie stab foes and slit their throats. Gaspare slams two guys with a sledgehammer, leaving them unconscious and bloodied (and possibly dead). Brodie gives himself up at one point to aid the group of passengers and he’s beaten by thugs. He’s also shot twice.

Passengers are murdered by the separatists for moving after they were told not to. A man is possibly decapitated with a sharp blade (offscreen) in one such case. We see a room covered in bullet holes and blood smears—indicating torture and murder—and watch a film showing missionaries that were held in that room.

There are several tense, perilous scenes where the large airliner veers about dangerously, nearly crashing. One of the fuel tanks doesn’t empty during one landing, making the plane a potential “firebomb.” One man gets crushed by the front landing gear of the speeding airliner.

Crude or Profane Language

Some 20 f-words spatter the dialogue, along with a dozen or so s-words and one use of “h—.” God’s and Jesus’ names are both misused once each (with the former being combined with “d–n.”)

Drug and Alcohol Content

As the flight begins, we see passengers drinking beer and glasses of champagne.

Other Negative Elements

It’s implied that the separatists regularly hold innocent people for ransom and then either kill them or enslave them.

Some movies invite introspection, thoughtful discussion and maybe even spirited arguments over the deeper themes in play.

Plane is not one of those movies.

No, Plane is as straight flying and no-nonsense as its title suggests. This pic doesn’t mess about with character development, sub-plots or twisty story turns. It’s simply a tight, intense actioner. Granted, it sticks its landing with knotted muscles, gritted teeth and a grunting sigh.

But all the profane language and bloody mess tucked in its overhead bin still spills out on your head.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Plane: movie release date, reviews, trailer, cast and everything we know about the action flick

Gerard Butler, action star, is still fun to watch for movie fans.

Kick off the 2023 new movie slate with a bang with Plane , an action movie starring Gerard Butler, who has become the king of fan-favorite B-action movies. Under-the-radar movies like Copshop , Greenland and Angel has Fallen have been hits with fans, often because of their maybe silly but earnest concepts and fun action sequences.

If you're caught up with the 2022 movies you needed to see and you're looking for something different after the movies up for Oscars , Plane could be just the thing to go and see. Here's everything you need to know.

Plane movie release date

Plane is one of the first new movies of 2023, arriving exclusively in US movie theaters on January 13. It arrives in the UK on January 27. Here's what you need to know on how to watch Plane . 

It's set to be an alternative if you've already seen M3GAN (releasing on January 6) and are not interested in the new Tom Hanks movie, A Man Called Otto (going wide in the US on January 13).

Plane movie plot

Here is the official synopsis for Plane from Lionsgate:

"In the white-knuckle action movie Plane , pilot Brodie Torrance 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), an accused murderer who was being transported by the FBI. In order to rescue the passengers, Torrance will need Gaspare's help, and will learn there's more to Gaspare than meets the eye."

Plane movie cast

Gerard Butler stars as Brodie Torrance. Butler broke out with the epic action movie 300 and while he has tried his hand at a few different genres and been a part of some major hits (like the How to Train Your Dragon franchise), action is where he shines. He's led the Fallen trilogy ( Olympus Has Fallen , London Has Fallen and Angel Has Fallen ), while also getting solid notices for movies like the aforementioned Greenland , Copshop and more.

Sharing top-billing with Butler is Mike Colter as Louis Gaspare. Colter's biggest role to date was as Luke Cage in the Marvel original series, but he has also had a starring role on the Paramount Plus original series Evil . Other notable roles have included The Good Wife and Million Dollar Baby .

The rest of the Plane cast features Yoson An ( Mulan ) as Dele, Danielle Pineda ( Jurassic World: Dominion ) as Bonnie, Paul Ben-Victor ( Pam & Tommy ) as Hampton, Remi Adeleke ( The Terminal List ) as Shellback, Joey Slotnick ( Twister ) as Sinclair, Evan Dane Taylor ( The Enemy Within ) as Junmar, Claro de los Reyes as Hajan and Tony Goldwyn ( Scandal ) as Scarsdale.

Plane movie trailer

Gerard Butler and Mike Colter team up to save the day in the official trailer for Plane . Watch right here. 

There's also this minute long trailer that came out in early January:

Plane movie reviews — what the critics are saying

The reviews for Plane are rolling in, including What to Watch's Plane review . In it, we say that if you're ready to turn your brain off and just enjoy the action as its being presented to you, the latest Gerard Butler action movie is not going to disappoint.

It seems that Plane is teetering on a similar kind of line with other critics, with those who can live with its routine action movie proceedings and those who wonder why we needed another example of this. As of January 11, Plane is "Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes , right at the cut line of 60%.

How long is Plane movie?

Plane has a runtime of one hour and 47 minutes.

What is Plane movie rated?

Plane has been given an R rating in the US for violence and language. At this time there is no official rating for the UK.

Plane movie director

The director of Plane is France's Jean-François Richet. Most of Richet's movies are primarily in French, including Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 , though he has done some English-language films like 2005's Assault on Precinct 13 and the Mel Gibson movie Blood Father . 

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Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca , Moulin Rouge! , Silence of the Lambs , Children of Men , One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars . On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd .

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Plane review: This Gerard Butler thriller desperately needed to be more stupid

A jungle thriller with the star of ‘olympus has fallen’ should be a lot more fun than this, article bookmarked.

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Plane isn’t stupid enough. The title of this Gerard Butler action thriller, which should only be said with the monosyllabic matter-of-factness of a toddler at an airport, is so boneheaded that it craves chaotic genius in return. But Plane is stifled by just how ordinary it is, and how closely it hews to the standard tropes of action films with longer, more descriptive – yet less ridiculous – titles.

Here, Butler is parachuted into the exact kind of cheap, vaguely racist action flick that dominated the Eighties and Nineties. He plays Brodie Torrance, a commercial pilot heading up a New Year’s Eve flight from Singapore to Tokyo. It’s a budget airline. There are only 14 passengers onboard – plus, of course, a convicted criminal named Louis Gaspare ( Mike Colter ), who’s being transferred between prisons. The plane (just a normal plane, remember) is caught up in a violent storm that Brodie is ordered to fly through. A single lightning strike later, and Brodie is guiding the aircraft back down to Earth for an impromptu landing on what turns out to be a lawless island run by separatists and criminals.

The film’s by-the-numbers, macho mentality can be neatly summed up by the fact that when Brodie evacuates from the plane, director Jean-François Richet pointedly cuts away from his hero. You can’t risk emasculating your leading man by capturing him slipping down one of those big, inflatable slides now, can you? Louis is supposedly the more experienced and ruthless of the two men – he’s at one point caught by Brodie near-skipping out of the jungle after executing a captured separatist, and the guilty look he returns is somewhat close to that of a dog who’s just been found with his nose in the cookie jar. The ever-dependable Butler, one of the least self-conscious of today’s crop of action stars, gives Brodie just a touch of panicked witlessness in contrast.

But Brodie and Louis are conveniently both military veterans, so it doesn’t make all that much difference. Plane , in fact, sees such little separation between their characters that it only bothers to offer a proper conclusion to one of their storylines. What’s important is that they are men, with sweat-soaked shirts and suppressed trauma. There’s also one woman onboard, with Daniella Pineda’s stoic cabin crew member Bonnie being the character third-closest to having any discernible personality.

Beyond a cross-cut series of shots between a guy in a plane and a guy in a jeep caught in a vehicular Mexican standoff, there’s not much that’s genuinely fun about Plane . It exists in that tiresome world of just-about-believability, with none of the gung-ho spirit that stops you questioning how any of this would work. Maybe Butler should make something like “Truck” next time – see if he has better luck there.

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Dir: Jean-François Richet. Starring: Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Tony Goldwyn, Daniella Pineda, Paul Ben-Victor, Remi Adeleke. 15, 107 minutes.

‘Plane’ is in cinemas from 27 January

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Plane Review

27 Jan 2023

First things first: Plane is quite a funny name for a film, isn’t it? The monosyllabic bluntness of it is oddly, unintentionally hilarious — like a toddler blurting out a newly learned word while pointing at something. Plane . What’s perhaps funnier still is that this B-movie-adjacent action-movie only spends 30 minutes of the runtime on an actual plane, abandoning the dunderheaded promise of that title before the first act is even over.

Plane is the latest in a subgenre you might call ‘ Gerard Butler Saves The World’, a cheap-and-cheerful corner of cinema that has seen the Scottish hard man take on world-ending comets ( Greenland ), world-ending weather ( Geostorm ), and a series of increasingly ludicrous world-ending terrorists (the Has Fallen series). Plane , however, initially finds Butler not in action-hero mode, but everyman mode.

He plays airline pilot Brodie Torrance (a classic Gerard Butler character name, to sit proudly alongside ‘Mike Banning’ and ‘Big Nick O’Brien’), an ordinary bloke who loves his daughter, loves his job, and has been known to get into a scrap. When we first meet him, he’s captaining a near-empty flight to Tokyo on New Year’s Eve, making jokes over the Tannoy and offering famous last words (“There won’t be any delays!”).

There could have been a lean, minimalist thriller shaped simply around that opening half-hour, so it’s a shame that the film then immediately switches gears.

A bad omen comes with the arrival of Louis ( Mike Colter — just as in his Luke Cage days, an Absolute Unit), a murderer being transported in handcuffs for extradition; the lightning storm they fly through is a worse omen still. Director Jean-François Richet wastes no time in crafting a genuinely tense emergency landing sequence — destined to be edited out of future inflight versions — which sees the plane’s power killed, forced to land in complete darkness.

There could have been a lean, minimalist thriller shaped simply around that opening half-hour, so it’s a shame that the film then immediately switches gears; what starts in a comfortable disaster-movie mould quickly handbrake-turns into a generic, by-the-numbers action thriller, serving up a stale platter of fist fights, gun battles and hostage-taking. More troublingly, the filmmakers show some insensitivity bordering on xenophobia towards the real Filipino island of Jolo, where the film is set, depicted here as a lawless hellhole run by psychopath gangster terrorists. The half-a-million people who actually live on Jolo might take issue with being characterised as blood-lusting murderers who, unprovoked, freely behead the first Westerners they come across.

All credulity falls apart in the final act, when the modern equivalent of the cavalry riding in to save the day — an ex-Special Forces mercenary unit — bravely gun down the evil terrorists, and the clichés flood through, thick and fast. But Butler is still decent company for this sort of thoughtless silliness, bringing some dad-who-had-a-bad-day charm and hard-as-nails muscularity to the kind of role that has become his speciality. We’re left only to wonder: what will he save the world from next?

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Movies | 13 02 2023

Flight club: The most memorable airplane movies

Posted: March 20, 2024 | Last updated: March 21, 2024

Airplanes changed travel. They also changed movies. Over the years, many a film has been set on a plane, or largely revolved around a plane. There have been thrillers, horror movies, and comedies built on the back of the fact sometimes people are way up there in the air with nowhere to go. Here are the airplane movies that have stuck in our memories.

“Airplane!” (1980)

Sure, maybe it’s a little weird to begin with a plane movie that is a parody of previous plane movies. However, the plane-related disaster movie era has kind of been forgotten, but “Airplane!” remains an iconic comedy. When we think of movies about commercial flights, the one we think of first is this, perhaps the greatest parody film ever made. It's also one of the best films to watch while flying on an airplane , incidentally.

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“Air Force One” (1997)

“Get off my plane!” With those words, Harrison Ford’s President James Marshall became an action movie icon. “Air Force One” isn’t the best ‘90s political action flick, but it is a fun one . Terrorists get on the President’s plane, and he’s left to try and thwart them.

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“Zero Hour!” (1957)

You may have never seen “Zero Hour!,” but if you watch it, the film will likely feel familiar. “Airplane!” is primarily a parody of this film. It’s a solid enough ‘50s thriller from a time when movies set on planes weren’t exactly ubiquitous. “Zero Hour!” really helped set the standards, which then also set up the parodies.

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“Flight” (2012)

Denzel Washington rolls a commercial airliner. It’s wild. This is the first film on this list where a plane is crucial to the plot, but it is not set almost entirely on a plane. There is a lot of this Robert Zemeckis film where Washington is on the ground, using drugs, getting drunk, and dealing with the inquiry into what happened when, again, the dude rolled a commercial plane.

“Sully” (2016)

Clint Eastwood directs a Tom Hanks movie wherein Hanks plays a heroic pilot. A pilot named Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, at that. It’s Eastwood, which is to say, straightforward and to the point. However, that isn’t a bad thing. Many people talk highly of “Sully” as the kind of quality adult drama that doesn’t get made all that often anymore.

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“Bridesmaids” (2011)

Here is a “one memorable stretch on a plane in a film not largely about planes” entry. When you think of “Bridesmaids,” what set piece do you think of first? OK, now forget about the Brazilian restaurant experience and think about the second iconic comedy set piece from the beloved Kristen Wiig comedy. It’s when the whole crew is on that plane. Wiig’s character is drugged out. Melissa McCarthy seduces an air marshal. Good times.

“Airport” (1970)

Suddenly, in the 1970s, airport movies became a big thing. Specifically, the “Airport” series, of which they made four in the decade. “Airport,” the first film, was a true sensation, and a critical darling. Helen Hayes won an Oscar for the film, and it was nominated for Best Picture as well.

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“Twilight Zone: The Movie” (1983)

The anthology movie based on the anthology sci-fi show is flawed. Also, the John Landis section is effectively unwatchable for multiple reasons. That being said, George Miller directed an adaptation of one of the quintessential “Twilight Zone” stories, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” John Lithgow plays an airline passenger who sees a gremlin on the wing of the plane, but nobody believes him.

“Red Eye” (2005)

“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” the TV episode, helped stoke the rise of the horror story set on a plane. “Red Eye” is a straight-up horror film, or maybe more of a thriller, directed by none other than Wes Craven. The horror master helmed a story where Rachel McAdams’ character finds herself sitting next to Cillian Murphy who, unsurprisingly, turns out to be a menacing man with sinister motives.

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“Snakes on a Plane” (2006)

Look, in the end, the title delivered more than the movie. “Snakes on the Plane” was a meme that came to life. The film was a shrug, and it was kind of a flop. However, “Snakes on the Plane” still amused people on the internet, and Samuel L. Jackson got to say that one line. as well as give us one of his best on-screen roles .

“Soul Plane (2004)

This may be the only wacky comedy, non-parody version set on a plane. It’s the kind of film where Snoop Dog plays an airplane pilot. Does hilarity ensue? Not so much, and it was a flop. That being said, we definitely remember the ads for it, and the fact that “Soul Plane” exists.

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“Con Air” (1997)

“Con Air” is an out-there ‘90s action film, and one look at the cast would make that clear. When Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, and John Malkovich come together, you know things are probably going to get bonkers. Especially since, you know, this is a movie about a plane full of convicts where things, shall we say, go awry. Check out 20 facts you might not know about the film.

“U.S. Marshals” (1998)

Speaking of planes full of convicts, “U.S. Marshals” is the sequel to “The Fugitive.” It’s not as good, but it makes the decision to one-up the prisoner-escape scene from the classic original. This time, a plane full of convicts, and law enforcement officials, crashes, into the water no less. Here, Wesley Snipes’ not Dr. Richard Kimble is able to make his escape.

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“Dr. Strangelove” (1964)

There are a few distinct segments of “Dr. Strangelove,” Stanley Kubrick’s indelible war satire. While Peter Sellers is not in the plane portion, it is still quite memorable. Slim Pickens plays Major “King” Kong, who has received an inaccurate message that leads him on a mission to bomb the Soviet Union, which would trigger a civilization-destroying war. Cue Pickens riding a nuke like it’s a bucking bronco.

“Non-Stop” (2014)

What about “Non-Stop,” though? Liam Neeson was in his bag as a guy making B-minus/C-plus action flicks and thrillers during the time “Non-Stop” dropped. This time, it’s on a plane. There is actually quite a supporting cast in this film as well behind Neeson, and the film was a big hit.

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“Flightplan” (2005)

A psychological thriller that dips into the world of horror, “Flightplan” starts Jodie Foster on a plane with her daughter, and then her daughter disappears. All throughout the plane, Foster runs into people who insist her daughter was never on the plane. What’s going on? How could a person disappear entirely on a plane? That’s the crux of “Flightplan.”

“Final Destination” (2000)

“Final Destination” spawned a lengthy, low-budget horror franchise. It’s built to churn out cheap, satisfying films, as it is about the abstract concept of death coming to kill people who cheat death and to do so in elaborate, ridiculous ways. First, though, death must be cheated. “Final Destination” kicks it all off with Devon Sawa playing a teenager who foresees a plane explosion and convinces his friends to get off the plane.

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“View from the Top” (2003)

“View from the Top” doesn’t fully work. It doesn’t seem to land on a tone. However, it’s still remembered as the comedy(?) where Gwyneth Paltrow plays a flight attendant. While it didn’t fully work, it’s the one flight attendant comedy we can think of.

“Passenger 57” (1992)

This is the second Wesley Snipes film on the list. He was a massive action star in the ‘90s, whether on a train or a plane. “Passenger 57” is kind of like a smaller-scale “Con Air” without the wilder elements. Snipes plays a guy who has been a soldier, a cop, and a Secret Service agent who just so happens to be on the same flight as…the world’s most infamous terrorist who is being transported for trial? Sure, why not?

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“Money Plane” (2020)

“Money Plane” delivered in the ways “Snakes on the Plane” just didn’t. Oh, it’s a bad movie. Nobody was expecting a good movie, though. “Money Plane” delivered what we expected from everything “Money Plane” promised. It’s dumb but fun in its dumb way.

“Plane” (2023)

It was the title revealed in a trailer heard around the world. Yes, the movie is called “Plane.” It’s a shrug of an action movie starring Gerald Butler. How could we not include a movie that is called “Plane” on a list of plane films? It may not be good, but it is, in multiple ways, a plane movie.

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Red Eye review – the mile-high mystery that wishes it were Hijack

Instead of Idris Elba cranking it up to 11, we have the serviceable Richard Armitage downing G&Ts while handcuffed to his plane seat. Then the bodies start to pile up …

I f it’s Sunday – or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday – it must be time for a serviceable new thriller starring Richard Armitage . They’re usually on Netflix and adapted from a Harlan Coben bestseller (The Stranger, Stay Close, Fool Me Once); though they’re also sometimes on Netflix and adapted from a Josephine Hart novel (Damage, renamed Obsession for TV). This time, he is serviceably thrilling on ITV1 and ITVX in Red Eye, written by Peter A Dowling (with Jingan Young taking on episode four).

Armitage is Dr Matthew Nolan, first seen stumbling out of a Beijing nightclub with a knife wound, before smashing his car into a traffic barrier in an attempt, one assumes, to avoid another stabbing. Viewerly interest piqued, we cut to him arriving at Heathrow and promptly being arrested – or whatever variation these border agents perform – for the killing of a young woman who was in his car when it crashed. She was the daughter of a Party general and, in order not to jeopardise a fragile energy deal with China, the government agrees to send him straight back there to answer the charges.

But, splutters the good doctor, he didn’t do it! There was no one in the car with him when he crashed. He spoke to the woman at the post-conference party – where many other good doctors were in attendance – and left. He’s being framed. But why? And by whom?

The officer assigned to escort him back to China on the titular red-eye flight cares not a jot. She is DC Hana Li (Jing Lusi), narked because she has been stuck with this task below her pay grade purely because she is of Chinese descent, and convinced of his guilt because, um, the border agent she met said he done it and showed her a picture of the dead woman. “Your money and your white privilege made you think you could get away with it,” she snarls as she handcuffs him to his seat. She does let him down double G&Ts to his heart’s content, though I hope she brings a little more critical thinking to her actual cases. But there is no time to dwell on this, as things are moving apace.

Four other doctors at the conference, known to have seen Nolan talking to this woman, are asked to return to China with their extradited colleague to give witness statements. Three agree, one does not. He is last seen muttering suspiciously into a phone and then getting kidnapped into a white van. Should have got on the plane, Chris.

Or should he? Because within a few hours of takeoff, the bodies are piling up. Poisonings; thumps on heads made to look like accidents. Where is Idris Elba from Hijack when you need him? Fortunately, DC Li steps up. It’s a more phone-calls-to-authorities approach than Elba’s hands-on method at first, but more action soon arrives. The pilot remains unharmed at the end of the first two episodes available for review, but as he kisses a photo of his family before takeoff we assume he is marked for death. I suspect there will be some plummeting to be done before this thing is over.

Back on terra firma, we have Lesley Sharp miscast as Madeline Delaney, head of MI5. This seems to mean moving and talking very slowly to everyone. (But I suppose this may be accurate? Most of my knowledge of MI5 comes from Spooks and they all seem to move pretty fast there, but I accept that this too is television and possibly not an infallible source.) She is against Nolan’s extradition but the Home Office is adamant that the doctor goes. There is clearly something sinister writhing beneath the surface involving our government and the Chinese, but whether this is all to do with the building of a few nuclear power stations or darker forces at work is not yet clear.

Meanwhile, wouldn’t you know it, a bloody journalist has picked up the scent and has started to investigate Nolan’s unusual return to the scene of his alleged crime. She is Li’s half-sister, Jess (Jemma Moore), and they are already on no-speaks because of some unspecified betrayal over her last story.

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That, really, ladies and gentleman, is about all there is to say about this perfectly fun, perfectly functional twist-n-conspiracy-laden tale. If you watch the first episode you will very likely watch them all and they will slip down a treat. And then you will forget about it until the next time Armitage pops up – Tuesday, say.

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Red Eye review: Is Richard Armitage's Hijack-style ITV show worth a watch?

Prepare for takeoff.

The six-parter follows Armitage as Dr Matthew Nolan, returning to his Obsession mould as a British doctor in hot water. But this time those are international waters. When Nolan steps off a long-haul flight home from a medical conference in China looking like death warmed up, he's detained on suspicion of murdering a Chinese citizen.

Armitage grunts the words "British citizen" and "British soil" a lot to no avail, while being grilled by airport police, all of whom inexplicably display the identikit bald menace of Dune 's Harkonnen clan.

DC Hana Li, played by Jing Lusi, is then roped in to escort Nolan back to Beijing on the 10-plus hour flight returning the way he just came. On a side note, if you've ever wondered how much of a deep clean these flights get in between legs, the picture painted by Red Eye isn't a promising one.

En route to the Chinese capital, passengers start to be picked off by a shadowy figure lurking among them, leading DCI Hana to suspect something sinister is afoot.

As the night flight hurtles onwards, MI5’s Madeline Delaney (Lesley Sharp) and DCI Hana's journalist half-sister Jess (Jemma Moore) try to unpick the conspiracy from the ground.

The Hijack comparisons are impossible to ignore. Even Red Eye is conscious of them, since the two productions used the same plane set. Idris Elba only disembarked for Richard Armitage to board.

But it's not just Hijack : there's The Flight Attendant , Masters of the Air , The Castaways , Yellowjackets … plane content is in the ether. The TV landscape is at peak cruising altitude. It's a curious phenomenon, since boarding a long-haul flight is an experience most are loath to do, and that's without all the shenanigans that unfold on these TV flights.

Yet Red Eye is a decent addition to the pack. Penned by Peter A Dowling, who also wrote the Jodie Foster plane thriller Flightplan , he again expertly uses this hermetically sealed commercial tube as a whodunnit pressure cooker.

The admittedly roomy plane does start to feel more like a condo, with its various hidden compartments and comfort break areas for flight attendants. But the lighting is suitably drab and the turbulence rattling enough to make the whole thing believable enough, plot notwithstanding.

Armitage and Lusi very quickly establish a cat-and-mouse rapport. Although Red Eye 's narrative has the twisting logic of a pretzel, its thrills and spills override how daft it is.

Fans of Armitage's recent stuff will gobble it up. But Armitage's Hobbit and Harlan Coben star power is very closely rivalled by a fabulous turn from Lusi.

The Crazy Rich Asians star is at home in the world of plane, a project she has described in watershed terms for its Asian representation both in front of and behind the camera.

While Red Eye may not be the ultimate vehicle for explorations of immigrant belonging – Beef this isn't – these themes are deftly woven into the thriller context. Lusi's Hana drives the "model minority" stereotype off a cliff. She is a headstrong, no-bullshit woman who cares enormously about her job and tries to do right by her family, despite a prickly relationship with them.

Even once the bodies really start to pile up – including, be warned, a canine – the pace moves at enough of a clip for you to keep at bay the lingering question of believability. Only in the ad breaks is there time to wonder… In reality, wouldn't they just land the plane?

Red Eye airs on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.

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Deputy TV Editor

Previously a TV Reporter at The Mirror , Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape for Digital Spy , when she's not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas. 

When she's not bingeing a box set, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards  and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we're all watching.

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