Plane (2023)
January 12, 2023 8:34 PM - Subscribe

A pilot (Gerard Butler) finds himself caught in a war zone with little help but a man wanted for murder (Mike Colter) after he's forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm.

An old-fashioned, workmanlike, generally harmless actioner. Mostly does not actually take place on a plane. Butler and especially Colter provide a nice gun show for the audience. Doesn't overstay its welcome.
posted by praemunire (6 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
So this is like Assault on Precinct 13 if the people ran into the bad guys after a plane crash instead of having them attack them in a police station? I could be into that.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:53 AM on January 13, 2023


Mix in some of The Defiant Ones and you're mostly there.

One of the ways this film is old-fashioned is that I think it's supposed to be a male action fantasy, but they accidentally made it to appeal to women, too. Previously noted eye candy (at one point Colter grabs and holds Butler for a lonnnng time), plus Butler is a very calm, competent guy heroically devoted to protecting the vulnerable passengers and making it home to his daughter.
posted by praemunire at 11:09 AM on January 13, 2023 [1 favorite]


Here's an article on Butler from The Ringer that takes this movie as a jumping-off point to discuss the actor generally, and why and how he appeals to people.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:56 AM on January 16, 2023


This was a very good, "tight", well-put-together action movie. Very enjoyable, I didn't find anything to quibble about.
posted by rozcakj at 6:57 AM on February 4, 2023


I've never stealth sledgehammer kills in a movie before. I love it.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 2:51 PM on July 29, 2023 [2 favorites]


Kind of hilariously, this movie forgets to do anything with the other characters, as everything gets sucked up into the character this great amazing perfect godlike MAN. Team bald asshole? Pointless. Annoying selfie girls? Also pointless. Co-pilot arc? Nah. Daughter doing anything? No. Wife emotions? None.

Maybe the most closeted thing in the movie is when the head steward hugs Butler at the end and the induced narrative response is like, "Uh who are you and why is this happening?" It's so awkward.

Also right after that, when he lingers on the plane, then emerges from the plane and everyone, after just having said goodbye, turns to give him a significant look and smile, like "wow there's that guy again :)". And he just calls his daughter, who hopefully is done with her vlogging lmao.

But we really want to know, what of Luke Cage? Is he okay? Are they going to meet again? Surely they need to. Maybe the bad guy from Ghost can show up too, and they can nod at each other, the only three men in the world qualified to appreciate other men such as themselves. This movie should have had a fucking stinger! Of all movies!

I guess it's a bit like a Hallmark movie. Like, it's pretending to be a more complete entertainment but part of the enjoyment is kind of marveling at where the effort stops the artistic omissions.

The plane procedural stuff was good. OTOH getting to the final airport was a kind of hilariously abrupt. They pass on it to juice the last bit of peril out of "omg will we stop in time before the end of the runway??" which I think was supposed to call back to fixing the brakes, then murdering the baddie with the landing gear, but .. it didn't work really. They couldn't afford to show the landing gear having trouble or something. But even if they did it wouldn't work, because they were out of peril and that point, and who cares if the plane crumple-crashes a bit it wouldn't be fatal c'mon; there was just no tension in it.
posted by fleacircus at 6:21 AM on December 6, 2024


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