Bullet Points: Plane
What can I say about Gerard Butler that hasn’t already been said over the past decade or so? He is exactly the type of actor that becomes beloved in the eyes of action fans all over the world. His list of action gems continues to grow longer with each year and there doesn’t appear to be any stopping at this point.
His blend of theatrical quality and DTV storylines makes him one of my go-to actors for “comfort action”. While most of his films aren’t going to win many awards, they sure know how to leave an action fan like myself with a smile. Also, you won’t catch me watching any of those lame-ass awards shows anyways!
Synopsis: A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he’s forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm.
- The Set up: As you might expect from the title of this film, it does indeed take place on a plane. Well, some of it does. We meet Captain Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler) as he’s making a New Years Eve flight from Singapore to Japan. He’s attempting to make his way to Hawaii to spend the holiday with his daughter. He gets to his plane and we get several minutes with the co-pilot, flight attendants, and a surprise prisoner being extradited to the United States.
- Bad weather, good landing: It’s a good thing that Cpt. Torrance is so good but the plane isn’t in the air long before it is struck by lightning and then forced to land. While discovering a place to land after being over the ocean is a stroke of luck, landing on an island full of rebels and criminals isn’t so lucky.
- Danger: At some point Butler’s Torrance and the prisoner played by Mike Colter leave the landing/crash site to find help. It really seems like they’re the only two who truly understand what kind of trouble they’re in. As we slowly get to learn more about the two of them, they’re also given a few opportunities to show off some of their skills. It also becomes apparent that they aren’t on some paradise island and are instead in a world of hurt.
- Hostage Situation: Cpt. Torrance and Colter’s Gaspare aren’t just going to sit by and let the other passengers get ransomed. He’s the Captain, dammit! Their mission for survival has now become a rescue. An added element that guarantees to pay off later is that the airline company has brought in a crisis manager who immediately knows the score and sends in a team of mercenaries to find the passengers.
- Pew Pew Pew: Shootouts galore is what the final act of the film is like. Gaspare isn’t afraid to kill and now that the mercs are finally around, the killing reaches new heights. Sniper shots are always fun but there are a few here that look extra cool. The plane is finally brought back into the picture and we’re given a proper sendoff for some or the final bad guys running around.
- Torrance and Gaspare: The buildup to the crash of the plane on the island was much longer than I expected. It’s not a long film, somewhere around 100 minutes, but it felt to me like they could have spent a few more minutes with Gaspare. He’s here with very little backstory, which was a bit of a surprise, but it probably adds to the weight of the tension and the feeling that every second counts. The biggest problem is that the two of them never reach that higher level of action duo/friendship that begs for a sequel.
The Verdict: It’s a freaking miracle that we have a guy like Gerard Butler making movies like this. Everytime I watch a Nicolas Cage movie I think about this and it seems that I should be doing it with Butler as well. He’s a supreme talent who has honed his acting craft over the years. He doesn’t need a monster budget with effects driven action to set the mood. He does that with his charisma and ability to emote on screen. When we lost the DTV world to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime I truly thought that we would lose the type of actor that Gerard has become. He can play literally any role in a film. He can do the romantic lead, the comedic friend, and of course, the action-oriented main character. He’s a jack of all trades but still a master of them all. Butler carries Plane to places it should never reach and fans of action and especially that emotionally powerful actioner of yesteryear will be thrilled to know that there’s someone out there still doing it.
