In a sentenceWe would trust Gerard Butler with the aircraft, but somebody else should choose the destination
A storm turns a flight into an emergency for Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler), Samuel Dele (Yoson An) and Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter). In the cockpit, the immediate task is to get the aircraft down with the people aboard still alive. An emergency landing brings them to Jolo, where reaching the ground does not guarantee safety. Torrance has to protect the people who have survived the flight, and Gaspare becomes an unlikely ally as they face the prospect of violence on the ground.
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Plane is a sturdy, satisfying thriller with a tense emergency landing and an appealing partnership between Gerard Butler and Mike Colter. The supporting characters are thin, but the leads give the danger enough weight.
Plane is a solid action thriller, helped considerably by Gerard Butler’s willingness to look as though the job might be beyond him. Jean-François Richet directs with a sensible grasp of what matters: we need to understand the danger and believe that surviving it takes effort. The film delivers that, even when the writing settles for familiar threats and thin supporting characters. It is worth an evening if straightforward action is what we are after.
The storm and emergency landing are the strongest stretch, because the film gives us time to sit with the problem. Brendan Galvin’s cinematography makes the cockpit feel restrictive without making the action impossible to follow. David Rosenbloom’s editing allows the crisis to build rather than hurrying through it. Mailara Santana’s production design helps establish the cockpit as a workplace, which gives its occupants something more useful to do than look frightened. We were properly tense during the descent; the patience with the people at the controls made the danger feel immediate.
Gerard Butler gives Brodie Torrance a welcome degree of uncertainty beneath the determination. He seems shaken by what happens, and that matters more than another demonstration that an action hero can take punishment. Mike Colter’s Louis Gaspare supplies a steadier, more imposing presence, and the difference between them makes their cooperation worth watching. Neither performance needs a laborious explanation of the men’s pasts to establish why we might want to spend time in their company.
The direction is equally effective when the violence gets close. A sustained hand-to-hand fight gives us enough uninterrupted time to register the effort involved, rather than relying on cuts to manufacture force. The blows have weight, and the people delivering them appear to be working for it. The shooting is less distinctive: once the film is dealing mainly in gunfire, its pleasures become more ordinary. The music by Marcus Trumpp and Marco Beltrami reinforces the danger but makes little distinction between the gripping confrontations and the routine ones.
The screenplay by J.P. Davis and Charles Cumming gives the leads enough to work with, but the people around them are less fortunate. Supporting characters are defined so quickly that there is little to hold on to beyond their immediate usefulness. The middle stretch also loses some of the urgency of the landing. Jolo is reduced to a source of danger, with little interest in anyone who might live there outside the needs of an action scene. The villains are broadly drawn even by the standards of a film asking for modest expectations.
For much of its 107 minutes, Plane remembers that watching somebody work through an emergency can be entertainment enough. Action thrillers do not always let their heroes look this uncertain. There is pleasure in seeing it taken seriously here, even when the plot is taking shortcuts. Save it for a night when a worried man doing his job is more appealing than another invulnerable hero.
Most critics find Plane an entertaining, predictable action thriller that succeeds with modest ambitions. Praise centres on Gerard Butler’s committed performance, with several reviews finding warmth and vulnerability beneath the familiar action-hero role. His pairing with Mike Colter is another consistent strength, giving the film an appealing double act. The cockpit tension, emergency landing and straightforward physical action draw much of the remaining praise, though enthusiasm for the staging is not universal.
The spread runs from confident recommendations to firm dismissals, with disagreement over whether the familiar formula provides enough entertainment. Reservations cluster around implausibility, thin supporting characters and repetitive gunfire; even favourable reviews concede some of these weaknesses. The Guardian finds the pacing weak and the suspense lacking, despite Colter’s presence. Empire shares the appreciation for the leads and emergency landing but objects more strongly to the portrayal of Jolo and the reliance on clichés.
The critic finds the thriller an entertaining, confidently executed example of its genre, despite its predictability. They praise the storm sequence and Gerard Butler’s appealing performance.
Read the full review →Walsh finds the film satisfying as lean, pulpy action entertainment, though it offers little political nuance. She praises the appealing, masculine pairing of Gerard Butler and Mike Colter and the film’s taut, gritty action.
Read the full review →Ebiri finds the film an enjoyable, unpretentious action movie that delivers on its promise of cheap thrills. He singles out its visceral violence and the compelling pairing of Gerard Butler and Mike Colter.
Read the full review →Ehrlich finds Plane a sturdy, entertaining action vehicle that delivers on its straightforward promise. He praises its patient cockpit sequences and Butler’s well-suited, sincere performance.
Read the full review →Hoffman finds the film entertaining if plainly conventional, recommending it with moderate expectations. He singles out the tense, well-edited plane-crash sequence for praise.
Read the full review →The critic finds Plane a routine but effective action thriller that delivers on its genre promises. He praises Jean-François Richet’s clearly staged action, especially a sustained hand-to-hand fight filmed in one take.
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The Flight of the Phoenix · not reviewed yetStranded men argue over survival in a harsher, more patient adventure.
Assault on Precinct 13 · not reviewed yetAn uneasy alliance defends a confined space against an increasingly frightening siege.
A Hijacking · not reviewed yetFor a slower, more troubling account of people bargaining over captive lives.
The Wages of FearMen doing dangerous work, with enough time to understand their fear.
Unstoppable · not reviewed yetAnother transport emergency improved considerably by a convincing pair of working men.
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