PLANE

Gerard Butler plays Scottish pilot Brodie Torrence. I mention he’s Scottish purely because the film is quite keen for you to know it. If the accent wasn’t a giveaway he mentions Haggis within the first few minutes. Just in case there was any confusion.

Torrence is preparing to fly an under occupied flight from Singapore to Honolulu when he learns that theres some bad weather coming in across the ocean. Not to worry though, the airline assure him that it will have moved inland by the time they reach it. And if not, they’ll be able to climb above it to 40,000ft.

What could possibly go wrong.

And then, to top it off, Torrence is informed that there will be a last minute addition to the manifest. Convicted murderer Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter) is to be transferred on this flight. But it’s fine, he’s in handcuffs after all, and his accompanied by an armed guard.

What. Could. Possibly. Go. Wrong.

So…

The crash itself is excellently staged.

It’s tense, the cinematography is excellent despite the confined spaces it has to work in, and there is a genuine level of threat throughout.

It is genuinely heart in mouth stuff, made even more impressive considering that everyone with even a passing knowledge of Gerard Butler films will know that that plane is coming down the moment he steps foot on it.

And the film never lets up. There are some excellent action set pieces, and director Jean-François Richet makes the impact of every bullet and every punch feel real.

I think one thing that sets Plane apart from other films of its ilk is Charles Cummings script. By strange coincidence I had, the night before seeing Plane finished reading Cummings book Box 88 - an excellent modern spy story - and seeing his name appear in the end credits made sense.

While Plane does have its more ridiculous moments, especially as we enter its final acts, Cummings script stops it from ever flying fully into the stratosphere of fantasy.

That being said the main criticism I would have, however, would be the characterisation of some of the films side characters, and it’s villains. Other than a couple of exceptions the majority of the passengers on the plane are purely there to make up the numbers, and are not given anything even remotely resembling a personality.

The islanders, similarly, are given a two dimensional “bad guys” trope. There is not real motivation for what they do other than “they’re the bad guys”. I imagine in an original draft, there was some kind of political subplot surrounding the films villains, which was apparently deemed superfluous at a production meeting somewhere along the way.

Because of this it feels very difficult to feel any kind of sympathy towards anyone but Gerrard Butlers Brodie or Mike Colters Gaspare. You want them to escape, you want them to bring the other passengers with them, but honestly, if a couple of them get shot along the way… meh.

I went into Plane with low expectations. I assumed I was going to get standard Butler fare. What I actually got was a genuine thrill ride, which never lost my attention.

As we enter awards season Plane will make no ripples whatsoever, but if you’re in the mood for an engaging action thriller, it is well worth your attention.