Plane: Patchwork-Quilt Thriller Nods to Many (Many) Films that Came Before

By Thom Ernst

Rating: C

I'm pleased for Gerard Butler fans this week. Butler appears in three movies, and they're all called Plane.

That means, in the span of an hour and 47 minutes, Butler takes an early 2023 lead against Liam Neeson in the race for middle-aged action heroes. It also means that Butler's Brodie Torrance — the rugged, sensible pilot in Plane — is tied with Butler's Mike Banning from the Has Fallen franchise.

Three films, each with barely a costume change between them.

For the first few moments of the film, French filmmaker Jean-François Richet allows Plane to pose as a disaster film introducing a laundry list of potential casualties: 14 passengers, including Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), a large intimidating federal prisoner, guarded and in handcuffs and five (if I counted correctly) crew members.

But Richet's understanding of disaster film procedures seems more instinctual than textbook. And though his instincts might be an honest approach, following the text might be more satisfying.

Plane begins as a reimagining of Airport (1970) but hard to know if it's reimagining Airport 75 or Airport 77. Maybe both! A re-imagination/amalgamation—in which case Butler, via Brodie Torrance, steps in the Charlton Heston's role from Airport 75, while the Jack Lemmon role in Airport 77 goes to Claro de los Reyes as the co-pilot, Hajan.

Hajan is a decent family man. He tapes a happy picture of his wife and kids on the plane dashboard moments before being ordered to risk the storm warnings and forge ahead. Is there a pilot or co-pilot in the world who thinks this is a good idea?

The Airport-like sequence, a claustrophobic shot of the cockpit with Torrance and Hajan battling rain, wind, and lightning, ends with a forced landing in a remote Philippines war zone. Until then, there are a lot of shaking sets, and flashes of lightning, with Torrance and Hajan fighting the controls like wrestling alligators.

According to their character type, the passengers play stoic, heroic, or panicky. They provide the film with the "What the...Hey the…Who the…Why the?" background voices of fear and anger. Their collective performance is a reminder that disaster films are nothing without the likes of long-gone veterans, Red Buttons, Jack Albert, and Shelley Winters.

The second film kicks in with Torrance and the survivors crash landing Behind Enemy Lines, in a feature film version of the first episode of LOST. The film could benefit from the appearance of a stalking tiger or a hungry Anaconda, but the gang is confronted by nothing more vicious than a few free-range chickens. Fortunately, they land safely from the jungle wildlife.

Not to worry, something far more hostile than jungle wildlife awaits them.

The plane lands in an unforgiving territory controlled by a heavily armed militia group that, according to their appearances, would seem to have a signature devotion to Russell Brand. Dele (Yoson An) heads this militia. It takes the survivors as hostages while Torrance is off with Gaspare, whose cooperation could mean the difference between survival and death.

Sharp viewers will detect a slight revival of The Defiant Ones in the cooperation between Torrance and Gaspare, but unlike the Sidney Poitier-Tony Curtis vehicle, Torrance and Gaspare's conflict is one of trust rather than any racially activated tension. And the handcuffs are gone.

Plane rounds things out in a third act that grinds through all the critical points seen in No Escape and Black Hawk Down, along with a Tarantino-like reshaping of the Jonestown Massacre.

There is a fourth film that doesn't feature Butler but weaves through the first three acts. At home base, Hampton (Paul Ben-Victor), owner of the airline, battles against red tape, time, and logistics to get the passengers and crew home safely.

Plane is a mild diversion that carries more baggage than necessary, a forgettable thriller pieced together from a collage of other films and ideas.

Plane. Directed by Jean-François Richet. Starring Gerard Butler, Paul Ben-Victor, Yoson An, Claro de los Reyes, and Mike Colter. Currently playing in select theatres.