Plane, the latest action-thriller starring Gerard Butler, may have confused audiences with its trailer, but the movie proves to be a well-crafted and enjoyable tale of a plane trip gone awry and the subsequent escape from a Filipino jungle teeming with militants.
Plane delivers a high-octane action flick with a measured approach
Though marketed as a high-octane action film, Plane starts off with a measured and process-oriented approach, similar to Paul Greengrass’ United 93. The film’s focus on the mundane details of the plane and its passengers makes for an engrossing experience, despite its B-movie budget. This attention to detail sets the stage for the unexpected turn of events that follows, as the audience is drawn into the story and the tension builds.
The unexpected turn of events comes when the vessel’s captain, Brodie Torrance, must deal with a dangerous prisoner on board. Louis Gaspare, played by Mike Colter, is being extradited from Torrance’s home base of Singapore back to the United States because he’s wanted for murder. The presence of a dangerous criminal on board adds a layer of drama to the story, and it becomes clear that something is bound to go terribly wrong. The audience is left wondering how the situation will unfold as Torrance tries to make it to his teenage daughter in Hawaii in time for the new year. This plot point also serves to explain why there are only a dozen passengers on board, making for a more streamlined plot and production.
Clear similarities to LOST tv show
The major issue that eventually leads to the plane’s emergency landing on the Philippine island of Jolo is a stroke of bad luck coupled with some shoddy maintenance, leaving Trailblazer Airlines flight 119 vulnerable to the elements. The result is distinctly Lost-esque turbulence, and an emergency landing on the Philippine island of Jolo (shot mostly in Puerto Rico). As with J.J. Abrams’ Lost pilot, the air marshal escorting the handcuffed prisoner ends up incapacitated, and the surviving crew and passengers are left radio-less and are forced to ration their food. This situation leads to a survival story that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats as the characters are forced to navigate their way through an unknown and dangerous environment.
Definitely draws inspiration from LOST
But unlike Lost’s assortment of ghosts and smoke monsters, Plane’s villainous forces are much easier to parse. They are human militants who have a penchant for kidnapping foreigners. The audience is introduced to these forces early on, as the plane crashes in their territory, and the characters are forced to deal with them in order to survive. However, their motives remain as mysterious as any of Abrams’ mystery box baddies.
The real Jolo is a stronghold for Abu Sayyaf, a Southeast Asian ISIS offshoot, but you’d need a working knowledge of the region to decipher anything of the sort. The film’s geopolitics never come close to being explicit, which makes it all the stranger when the image-conscious Trailblazer inexplicably sends its own team of private mercenaries (most of them American) to help rescue the survivors and avoid a PR disaster. An implicit West-versus-Asian-Other framework emerges — more specifically, West-versus-Islamic-Terror, if you’re familiar with Jolo’s kidnappings and brutal killings — and it becomes all the more pronounced when it turns out that both the Scotsman Torrance and American Gaspare, who venture into the jungle for help and end up armed to the teeth, have early 2000s military backgrounds of their own.
Plane is grounded in its characters and story
But reality is rarely important in Richet’s film, which turns its militants into two-dimensional video game henchmen, who deserve to be dispensed with by virtue of an inherent ruthlessness that threatens the western passengers. It would be one thing if this were the basis for a farcical, blood-soaked beat-‘em-up with ridiculous stylings, but Plane stays grounded in its story and characters, offering a thrilling and engaging experience.
In conclusion, Plane is a well-crafted and enjoyable action-thriller that offers a unique take on the survival genre. The attention to detail in the beginning of the film sets the stage for an unexpected and thrilling story. The characters are well-developed and the audience is drawn into their plight as they are forced to navigate a dangerous and unknown environment. The villainous forces are easy to parse and their motives remain mysterious, adding an extra layer of tension to the story. Although the film may not delve deeply into the geopolitical issues surrounding the location of the story, it still provides an engaging and thrilling experience that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. Overall, Plane is a solid action-thriller that offers a unique take on the survival genre, and it’s definitely worth a watch.
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