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Plane charts a standard action-adventure course with its cruising altitude just a few miles above Direct-to-Video -- but with Gerard Butler in the cockpit, thriller enthusiasts will still find this a fun flight.

Check your critical thinking at the gate: The plot's preposterous and loaded with entertaining action, making Plane plenty of good old-fashioned fun.

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Jean-François Richet

Gerard Butler

Brodie Torrance

Mike Colter

Louis Gaspare

Daniella Pineda

Paul Ben-Victor

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"Plane" is the case of an action movie in which the dumb title—the most memorable thing about it—isn't an artistic statement, it's an alibi. If it can convince you that it's so simple, suddenly all of its laziness with character development, plotting, action sequences, etc., seems quaint, if not knowing. Add the pitch of Gerard Butler on a self-rescue mission, saving his flight passengers and crew from angry Filipino militants after a crash landing, and the expectations lower themselves.  

This rickety vehicle is produced by Butler, who seems to make these movies to avoid wearing superhero spandex or having to hurl himself off a cliff like Tom Cruise . He's fared better as a last action hero of a certain type of movie, and the biggest problem with "Plane" throughout is that it isn't wilder; it does not revel appropriately enough in its open dumbness. For its junky concept that eventually embraces '80s action storytelling firmer than a handshake in " Predator ," there are so many missed moments in which director Jean-François Richet attempts to get a free genre pass isn't so much as coasting but rushing to get itself over with.  

Things are looking up for "Plane" when it's gearing up for a big crash. Our main hero—Plane—is struck by lightning in a large spat of brutal weather, knocking out its power and dooming it to an unforeseen landing. With more of an air of "I can't believe this bad service," the 14 passengers on board start to freak out progressively; things become even direr when someone thinks they can outwit seatbelts. The sequence is cut with a punchy, glad-you-aren't-there intensity, and a couple of illustrative stunts—nasty things involving heads and neck trauma—make a firm point not to test gravity. Butler's pilot Brodie Torrance, who kicked off the flight with some Southwest Airlines-grade jokes over the intercom, executes some macho maneuvering and has his co-pilot Samuel ( Yoson An ) clock the ten minutes they have before they eventually crash land on a remote island in the Philippines.  

During this tumultuous descent, it's mighty strange when "Plane" shows a closeup of a drafted text message but not long enough for us to read whatever it says. But that's more of a hint that no characters have any important point to this story, aside, maybe, from a captured fugitive named Louis Gaspare ( Mike Colter ), who is handcuffed to an officer at the back of the plane. His history of committing homicide comes later in handy when the flight lands in progressively hostile territory. Brodie, with his history in the RAF and a gun secretly in his pants, brings him along the mysterious terrain to find help. Butler and Colter proceed to fend off plainly bad guys, with little chemistry between them in the process. 

Everything shifts for them when, after making a communications breakthrough at a shady warehouse (bullets on the floor, not a great sign), a bad guy sneaks up from behind and tries to kill Brodie. The scuffle that ensues is impressive, with the camera mostly holding on Butler's face as he wrestles with this bigger dude in tight quarters. But nothing is as exciting or long-lasting from here on out, even when Richet tries to heighten the danger with merciless militia men who roll up and kidnap Brodie's passengers and crew. "Plane" rushes through its emotional and explosive beats so that it can get to the next crisis without having to fill out the previous one, and it wildly skims on the good stuff in the process. Hostage situations are quickly fixed, dull gunfire exchanges are executed as if they were shot on different days, and even Colter's stiff, quiet killer only has his silence to make his stiffness remotely interesting as he doesn't get much of an arc despite the ominous promise at the beginning. It's just a bunch of action filmmaking gruel, presenting the jungle terrain with a color tint that matches the dank sweat on Butler's t-shirt.  

The biggest scene-stealer, really, is Gun, a quite large rifle brought by some airline-hired American black ops dudes who later appear, and which can fire bullets that rocket through car doors and exploding rib cages. Gun has a sounder dramatic arc than any other heroes in this assortment of action figurines and scowling cardboard cutouts and at least provides gory over-the-top violence like "Rambo" (2008), given the film's sleazy evolution. (My preview audience audibly adored Gun more than everything and everyone else in "Plane.”) Everyone else on-screen, from Butler's simply exhausted pilot to Colter's fugitive-maybe-looking for redemption to the super-scowling Filipino militia leader named Junmar ( Evan Dane Taylor ), is treated with such little sincerity by the script that you almost start to feel bad for them.  

Meanwhile, at Trailblazer Air headquarters back in New York City, the film props up its message that airline companies, not just their pilots, are ready to go to war for you. A group of people sits around a U-shape table with ominous lighting. The airline's CEO, Hampton ( Paul Ben-Victor ), uses his list of contacts trying to locate and then protect the passengers, including those American guys who come with their own equipment. A no-BS PR hotshot named Scarsdale, played by Tony Goldwyn , has all the answers and plenty of 'tude, too, like when he barks, "If you have New Year's Eve Plans, I just canceled them." It's telling how these scenes are filmed with the same feeling of a board room in one of Butler's " Olympus Has Fallen " movies. Like the other bits of wonky heroism in the disappointing vacation that is "Plane," it makes for an exaggerated joke with no punchline.  

Now playing in theaters . 

Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Plane (2023)

Rated R for violence and language.

107 minutes

Gerard Butler as Brodie Torrance

Mike Colter as Louis Gaspare

Yoson An as Dele

Tony Goldwyn as Scarsdale

Daniella Pineda as Bonnie

Paul Ben-Victor as Hampton

Remi Adeleke as Shellback

Joey Slotnick as Sinclair

Evan Dane Taylor as Junmar

Claro de los Reyes as Hajan

Haleigh Hekking as Daniela Torrance

• Jean-François Richet

Writer (story by)

• Charles Cumming

Cinematographer

• Brendan Galvin
• David Rosenbloom
• Marco Beltrami
• Marcus Trumpp

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‘Plane’ Review: A High-Flying Action Movie as Sturdy as Its Star, Gerard Butler

He plays a pilot forced to make an emergency landing, at which point the trouble really starts.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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Ever since the ’80s, action films have been overwhelmingly basic in concept, execution, and title. So when you hear that the new Gerard Butler film is called “Plane,” you’d be forgiven for thinking that you can run the entire movie through your head in the blink of an eye. Gerard Butler on a plane (check). He’s probably the pilot (check). There’s probably a criminal onboard (check). The film will be a low-flying, B-grade “Air Force One,” with Butler’s windpipe-smashing grizzled lug saving the day in the same way that Harrison Ford’s heroically resourceful chief executive did.

Actually, no.

Popular on Variety

But wouldn’t you know it, he spots land. An island of jungle terrain with a road snaking right through the middle of it. How convenient! Putting on his Sully Sullenberger cap, Brodie is able to make an emergency landing, using the road as a makeshift runway and stranding the shorted-out plane and its 14 passengers on what turns out to be Jolo, a remote island in the Philippines controlled by a ragtag militia of separatist renegades.

Butler is 53 now, and his hardass Scottish valor is aging like fine wine — or, at least, pretty good ale. He has a warm and fuzzy side, which comes out in Brodie’s phone chats with his collegiate daughter, Daniela (Haleigh Hekking), who he was supposed to rendezvous with after the flight. He makes contact with her again in one of the film’s best scenes, set in an abandoned communications hut in the middle of the jungle, where Brodie, in just a few minutes, is able to rewire the phone line, so that he can place a call to Trailblazer Airlines. A war room of corporate troubleshooters, led by a former Special Forces officer played by Tony Goldwyn (who’s like Ryan Seacrest’s sinewy sibling), is standing by, trying to pinpoint the vanished plane’s location. But Brodie, in a distressingly funny scene, gets hooked up to an annoying 21st-century company operator who won’t cooperate with him. (She thinks he’s a prank caller.) So he’s forced to call Daniela.

Even when the Trailblazer folks figure out where the plane is, they can’t just swoop in for the rescue. The Philippines government won’t cooperate; only mercenaries will go in there. Which means that Brodie essentially has to fight the rebels by himself, though he does deputize a partner: Louis, the killer in handcuffs, played by the charismatic Mike Colter, who makes this bruiser a wronged man who nevertheless keeps you guessing. The rest of the passengers cower and bicker — or, in the case of the arrogant businessman Sinclair (Joey Slotnick), bark out orders until the rebels, led by Dele (Yoson An), the short-fused commander who’s like a penny-ante Che Guevara, reduce him to wimpy subservience. They need ransom money to fund their war, a plan that Brodie undercuts with fists, machine guns, surgical espionage timing and extreme piloting skills. “Plane” is fodder, but the picture brazens through its own implausibilities, carried along — and occasionally aloft — by Gerard Butler’s squinty dynamo resolve.

Reviewed at the Park Avenue Screening Room, Jan. 6, 2023. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 107 MIN.

• Production: A Lionsgate release of a MadRiver Pictures, Olive Hill Media, Di Bonaventura Pictures, G-BASE Film Productions production. Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Marc Butan, Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, Jason Constantine, Eda Kowan, Luillo Ruiz. Executive producers: Alastair Burlingham, Michael Cho, J.P. Davis, Vicki Dee Rock, Edward Fee, Tim Lee, Osita O, Gary Raskin.
• Crew: Director: Jean-François Richet. Screenplay: Charles Cumming, J.P. Davis. Camera: Brendan Galvin. Editor: David Rosenbloom. Music: Marco Beltrami, Marcus Trumpp.
• With: Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, Evan Dane Taylor, Tony Goldwyn, Daniella Pineda, Paul Ben-Victor, Joey Slotnik.

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‘Plane’ Review: Flight, Camera, Action

In this thriller, Gerard Butler and Mike Colter have to avoid a hostage situation and deliver a plane full of passengers to safety.

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By Glenn Kenny

Jesters on social media have already begun chortling about this movie’s minimalist title. Where did the snakes go ?

The movie’s basic designation is not without precedent. Some of you may remember “Airport” and its several sequels. Most of those movies spent the majority of their time in the air rather than in the terminal, so maybe it figures that most of the action in this thriller, directed by Jean-François Richet and starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter (“Luke Cage”), is set on the ground.

The twist is that this ground is unsafe in a way that a boarding gate rarely is. Butler plays Brodie, a pilot whose Singapore-to-Tokyo flight — after which he is to reunite with his beloved daughter, because of course — is downed by violent weather. With his co-pilot and fellow family man Dele (Yoson An), Brodie manages a landing on an unidentified island run by “separatists and militias,” whose leader, Junmar (Evan Dane Taylor), has the nasty habit of ransoming, and sometimes killing, hostages. Brodie, determined to deliver his passengers to safety, powers through the jungle in search of a way to communicate with home.

If you guessed that the handcuffed convict who’s part of the flight’s manifest is actually a not-wholly-bad guy looking for a shot at redemption, go to the head of the class. Playing that part, Colter makes a good match with the stalwart Butler. Half a world away, Tony Goldwyn clenches his jaw in a kitted-out corporate conference room as the only honest crisis manager in the airline biz.

This is a pacey item that can be recommended on the grounds that it’s a January release that’s not even close to awful. “Plane” sinks (or rises, depending on your perspective) to “hell yeah” ridiculousness only at the end, delivering a punchline that lands at the right time.

Plane Rated R for bloody violence and language. Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes. In theaters.

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A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he's forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm. A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he's forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm. A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he's forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm.

• Jean-François Richet
• Charles Cumming
• Gerard Butler
• Mike Colter
• Tony Goldwyn
• 420 User reviews
• 185 Critic reviews
• 62 Metascore

• Brodie Torrance

• Louis Gaspare

• Samuel Dele

• Datu Junmar

• Terry Hampton

• Bonnie Lane

• Brie Taylor

• Karim Rahim

• Antonio Ortega

• Matt Sinclair

• Ana Fernández
• (as Rose J. Eshay)

• Javier Molina

• Rosalie Jeong

• Riley Donahue
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• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia The studio wanted a different title for the movie, but Gerard Butler insisted on keeping the title simple and went with "Plane".
• Goofs In order to fly above the bad weather, the pilot requests clearance for 40,000 feet. However the maximum cruising altitude for that airplane, (McDonnell Douglas MD-80), is only 37,000 feet.

Samuel Dele : And you, Sir? English, I'm guessing?

Brodie Torrance : Hell no. I wouldn't lower myself. Nope, I'm Scottish.

• Connections Featured in Movie Reviews: Plane (2023)

User reviews 420

• chrisst-33817
• Jan 14, 2023
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• What is the inspiration for the film?
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• January 13, 2023 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Official site
• Bay Vào Tử Địa
• San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA
• Di Bonaventura Pictures
• Lionsgate Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $32,111,181
• $10,265,326
• Jan 15, 2023
• $74,515,586

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• Runtime 1 hour 47 minutes

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Review: In ‘Plane,’ action star Gerard Butler once again sticks the landing

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The villains of the 2022 holiday season were the airlines, so it’s an apt moment for the Gerard Butler action vehicle “Plane” to take flight. The film’s inciting incident involves a cost-cutting safety checker at Trailblazer Airlines insisting that Captain Brodie Torrance (Butler) pilot through a storm instead of around it in order to save fuel during a New Year’s flight from Singapore to Tokyo. Of course, since this is a Gerard Butler action film, the passengers on Trailblazer Flight 119 don’t end up stranded for days in an airport but rather fighting for their lives on a remote island in the Philippines ruled by a separatist militia whose primary source of income is hostages.

Not to worry though, because Butler’s Brodie isn’t your average airline pilot — he’s an airline pilot who can kill bad guys with his bare hands. Plus, he has backup in the form of Mike Colter, and the two actors make a fine, fun and appealingly masculine pair in “Plane.”

Consider this meet-cute: Brodie Torrance is a widowed former Royal Air Force pilot stuck flying long-haul budget flights thanks to a viral video in which he put down an unruly passenger with a chokehold (his signature move, as we’ll come to find out). Louis Gaspare (Colter) is a convicted murderer who has been on the lam for 15 years, now being extradited from Bali to the United States. When Louis ends up on Brodie’s flight, sparks fly (from machine gun fire) as they battle the aforementioned separatist militia to save the passengers and get Brodie back to his daughter (Haleigh Hekking) in Hawaii.

Jean-François Richet’s “Plane” is as efficient, economical and effective as its title, which is a good one, actually — clear, descriptive, communicates what the film is about. The characterization in the screenplay by Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis is lean to the point of scanty, but we’re given just enough to suffice, and any more would be overkill.

Much like the aircraft itself for the majority of “Plane,” this taut thriller remains grounded and gritty, and once we’re on land, Puerto Rico — subbing for the Philippines — offers a sense of texture and realism to the humid setting. Richet methodically strings the tension, alternating with bursts of chaotic violence, showing us that Brodie is capable of both method and madness. Sometimes it’s a carefully orchestrated and silent extraction of hostages; sometimes it’s a brutal, bruising brawl as Brodie wrestles an assailant into submission, captured in a single handheld take. Butler’s fighting style is similar to the film’s: brawny, unshowy, effectual and explosive only when necessary.

Far away from the steamy Filipino jungles, we see the inner workings of the Trailblazer war room, headed up by Tony Goldwyn in full hambone mode as crisis manager David Scarsdale, bossing around the top exec (Paul Ben-Victor) and calling in the mercenaries. With Butler’s stoic heroism, plus the behind-the-scenes corporate jockeying, “Plane” feels like the action-thriller version of “Sully” with a nod toward Tobias Lindholm’s “A Hijacking,” but without the bleak condemnation of a corporate culture that negotiates the price of human lives.

The villains on the ground are a group of bloodthirsty rebels with great hair, and the leader, Junmar (Evan Dane Taylor), is so cool you almost want to root for him (considering they crashed onto his island), but there is, of course, the murdering of innocent hostages. However, don’t expect any political nuance or social commentary out of “Plane.” If you go into it expecting nothing more than to enjoy watching a sweaty Butler manhandle some bad guys while Colter manhandles him, you’ll be more than satisfied with the ride “Plane” offers — a well-executed hunk of pulpy entertainment.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Rated: R, for violence and language Running time: 1 hour, 47 minutes Playing: Starts Jan. 13 in general release

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Plane nails three things: planes, kicking ass, and planes

Gerard Butler’s still got it, baby

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The folks involved with the new action movie Plane , starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter , are very proud of the plane. Butler claimed in a recent interview that he fought to keep the title — which, in the handful of times I’ve seen the trailer in theaters, universally elicits laughter — and even called the titular transport “the star of the film.”

Naturally, that sounds ridiculous. Watch the movie, though, and one might start to believe him: The first 20 minutes are full of plane minutiae, like preflight checks, flight attendant rituals, crew small talk, annoying passengers, and lots of accurate-sounding radio chatter. It’s the Chef’s Table of plane movies, until it turns into the Rio Bravo of plane movies.

Like an actual commercial aircraft, Plane does not look like much, but it’s also wildly efficient. Butler plays Brodie Torrance, a longtime pilot for the fictional Trailblazer Airways, knocking out one last New Year’s Eve flight before making his way to see his daughter for an overdue visit. Unfortunately, his lightly attended flight encounters two complications: Louis Gaspare ( Evil ’s Colter ), an accused murderer being extradited by the FBI, and a severe storm that forces Brodie to crash-land on a remote island near the Philippines run by a ruthless warlord. When said warlord discovers the plane, he takes the passengers hostage, missing only Brodie and Louis. The movie unfolds from there with a simple mission: Get the passengers out, get them back on the plane, and figure out a way to get it back in the air and to safety again.

Once Plane reaches cruising altitude (not sorry), the most surprising thing about it is its straight-faced execution. Neither overly serious nor entirely humorless, Plane is a movie that adores competence, where the heroes are consummate professionals and the people who get in their way are either terrorists or idiots, or worse, government idiots. This is beautifully summed up in a subplot where Trailblazer executives go into crisis mode in order to address the missing aircraft, a meeting that is effectively overtaken by corporate fixer Scarsdale (Tony Goldwyn). The third hero of Plane , Scarsdale does not have patience for governments or corporate face-saving, giving the film much of both its humor and its action — the former by steamrolling the suits in the room, the latter by hiring a crew of private military operatives to help extract the passengers.

None of this detracts from Butler and Colter as the brawny action heroes upon whose shoulders Plane rests. Both actors are deft enough to make their characters feel like vulnerable flesh and blood — Butler as the world-weary and desperate idealist, and Colter as the wrongfully accused and highly skilled pragmatist. Their dynamic is fun without being funny, as Brodie is forced to trust Louis out of necessity, and Louis has every reason to ditch Brodie but recognizes that their odds of survival are better together. Mirroring the real-life actors portraying them, the two feel like underappreciated pros paired together by chance, neither waiting for nor expecting recognition yet committed to the art of ass-kicking. Director Jean-François Richet brings confidence to the cockpit (OK, sorry), guiding Plane with a steady hand. The movie’s drama efficiently ratchets up the tension for its action to hit hard and move on. Again: Like an actual plane, it’s a marvel of craftsmanship so unobtrusive that it’s easily mistaken for mundanity.

I would watch Brodie Torrance and Louis Gaspare save a new vehicle together every year, especially if it’s a movie that has a final-act shootout as good as Plane ’s, where they’re covered by a video game-ass sniper laying waste to generic terrorists with a fucking huge gun. If Plane was this good, sign me up for Boat .

Plane is now playing in theaters.

Plane Review

27 Jan 2023

First things first: Plane is quite a funny name for a film, isn’t it? The monosyllabic bluntness of it is oddly, unintentionally hilarious — like a toddler blurting out a newly learned word while pointing at something. Plane . What’s perhaps funnier still is that this B-movie-adjacent action-movie only spends 30 minutes of the runtime on an actual plane, abandoning the dunderheaded promise of that title before the first act is even over.

Plane is the latest in a subgenre you might call ‘ Gerard Butler Saves The World’, a cheap-and-cheerful corner of cinema that has seen the Scottish hard man take on world-ending comets ( Greenland ), world-ending weather ( Geostorm ), and a series of increasingly ludicrous world-ending terrorists (the Has Fallen series). Plane , however, initially finds Butler not in action-hero mode, but everyman mode.

He plays airline pilot Brodie Torrance (a classic Gerard Butler character name, to sit proudly alongside ‘Mike Banning’ and ‘Big Nick O’Brien’), an ordinary bloke who loves his daughter, loves his job, and has been known to get into a scrap. When we first meet him, he’s captaining a near-empty flight to Tokyo on New Year’s Eve, making jokes over the Tannoy and offering famous last words (“There won’t be any delays!”).

There could have been a lean, minimalist thriller shaped simply around that opening half-hour, so it’s a shame that the film then immediately switches gears.

A bad omen comes with the arrival of Louis ( Mike Colter — just as in his Luke Cage days, an Absolute Unit), a murderer being transported in handcuffs for extradition; the lightning storm they fly through is a worse omen still. Director Jean-François Richet wastes no time in crafting a genuinely tense emergency landing sequence — destined to be edited out of future inflight versions — which sees the plane’s power killed, forced to land in complete darkness.

There could have been a lean, minimalist thriller shaped simply around that opening half-hour, so it’s a shame that the film then immediately switches gears; what starts in a comfortable disaster-movie mould quickly handbrake-turns into a generic, by-the-numbers action thriller, serving up a stale platter of fist fights, gun battles and hostage-taking. More troublingly, the filmmakers show some insensitivity bordering on xenophobia towards the real Filipino island of Jolo, where the film is set, depicted here as a lawless hellhole run by psychopath gangster terrorists. The half-a-million people who actually live on Jolo might take issue with being characterised as blood-lusting murderers who, unprovoked, freely behead the first Westerners they come across.

All credulity falls apart in the final act, when the modern equivalent of the cavalry riding in to save the day — an ex-Special Forces mercenary unit — bravely gun down the evil terrorists, and the clichés flood through, thick and fast. But Butler is still decent company for this sort of thoughtless silliness, bringing some dad-who-had-a-bad-day charm and hard-as-nails muscularity to the kind of role that has become his speciality. We’re left only to wonder: what will he save the world from next?

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Movies | 13 02 2023

Plane. Movie. Review. Good.

Plane fall. people fight. critic happy..

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January is generally seen as a fallow time of year for film fans. Most studios are more focused on pumping out awards season contenders — artful films with complicated views of the human condition. If you're in the mood for something more straightforward, may I point you to the uncomplicated pleasures of Plane.  

That's right.  Plane.  

Sure they could have called it "Terror at 30,000 Feet," "Turbulence" or "Runway of Death." 

But Plane says what needs to be said. (The working title was The Plane.  For real.) 

It's a movie about a plane. A plane that falls out of the sky after a lightning strike, leading to a crash landing on a dangerous island south of the Philippines. 

Now a movie such as  Plane requires a hero. But who? It's a peculiar time for action stars. Bruce Willis's  a cting days are behind him . There's only so many kidnapping victims Liam Neeson can save, while Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is more focused on feuding with DC.  

The 'Old Navy' of action heroes

Enter Gerard Butler. The Old Navy store of action heroes. Like that old hoodie you find yourself coming back to, there's a worn-in quality to Butler that improves with age. The Scottish actor has come a long way since he and his abs aplenty bellowed "This is Sparta" in Frank Miller's  300 . At 53 years old, there's a rumpled and rugged presence to Butler that suits the put-upon characters he plays. 

Through the years he's serviced a whole spectrum of spectacular schlock from the unstoppable secret service agent Mike Banning of the Olympus has Fallen  franchise to the killer of Law Abiding Citizen. 

Like Harrison Ford, Butler is at his best when things are at their worst. The jingoistic charms of bulletproof Mike Banning are fine, but Butler is better as an average Joe, such as the dad from the 2020's disaster film Greenland . 

Plane finds him firmly in John McClane  mode, playing a pilot trying to get home in time for New Years for a long overdue reunion with his daughter.  

When the aforementioned lightning strike derails those plans, the film pivots into survival mode. On the film's manifest is the requisite collection of thinly-sketched characters/passengers; the annoying business guy, the hothead European, the selfie-happy millennials. But at the back of the plane in handcuffs sits Louis Gaspare, a convicted murderer who is being extradited. Mike Colter plays Gaspare with a simmering stare. You may remember him from the Luke Cage  Marvel series or recently on the show Evil . 

After the crash landing the passengers and crew face a new threat. The Jolo Island is home to a well-armed group of pirates who fund their operations by hunting for hostages. Short on options, Captain Torrance (a former member of the RAF) soon joins forces with Gaspare, who just happens to have spent time with the French Legion (!) to save the day.

Not a bromance

Plane is not an overly ambitious film. Like the title, it knows what it wants to do and gets the job done. It would be overselling things to describe what Butler and Colter have as a bromance. Instead there's a begrudging atmosphere of practicality. The jungle is filled with bad guys. Someone has taken the civilians. Let's find them and kill them. 

 Director Jean-Francois Richet smoothly ratchets up the tension as the film cuts back home to airline headquarters where Tony Goldwyn plays the fast-talking corporate troubleshooter who begins deploying resources, adding a team of mercenaries into the mix. Soon the body count and the tempo of  Plane  increases. 

While it would be a stretch to call  Plane gritty, it takes its time establishing the bona fides of the flight crew getting certain details right that will inevitably pay off later. The camera doesn't linger over the dire consequences of the crash, instead moving quickly to the tale of the captain versus the captors. With a brisk 107 minutes runtime, there's a sense of momentum that's refreshing in an age of bloated three-hour blockbusters. 

In the end,  Plane delivers exactly what it promises. There is a plane and a pilot. Plenty of predicaments and a satisfying thrill ride that arrives with time to spare.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Senior entertainment reporter

Eli Glasner is the senior entertainment reporter and screentime columnist for CBC News. Covering culture has taken him from the northern tip of Moosonee Ontario to the Oscars and beyond.  You can reach him at [email protected].

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‘Plane’ Review: A First-Rate Action Thriller

A prisoner on airplane, a crash landing, a desperate attempt to save hostages — there's nothing new here, but gerard butler shines in this vastly entertaining genre film..

There’s always room for another first-rate action thriller, and Plane breathlessly packs its punches in spades. Starring underrated, two-fisted hunk Gerard Butler and tightly directed by Jean-Francois Richet, it’s a satisfying rush of suspenseful excitement that is several notches above its competitors in the same genre.

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Butler plays Brodie Torrance, a Scotland-born commercial pilot who takes off on a New Year’s Eve flight from Singapore to Tokyo carrying 14  passengers, including one last-minute arrival in handcuffs—an accused felon named Louis Gaspare ( Mike Colter ) who is being extradited by the FBI to stand trial for murder on the mainland. Flight 119 is only supposed to take six-and-a-half hours, but it barely reaches cruising altitude when the plane is hit by lightning in a brutal storm that plunges it into total darkness. An electrical malfunction forces Brodie to make an emergency crash landing over the China Sea, disappearing off the radar and hitting a narrow strip of road in the middle of a jungle-infested Filipino island, killing one flight attendant and the prisoner’s security guard. Controls are smashed, fuel is low, the radio is dead and all contact with the civilized world is suspended, but the survivors are still relieved to land safely—until optimism turns into terror with the realization that the island is occupied by the kind of homicidal political terrorists that only exist in the movies.

Brodie has no choice but to enlist the services of Gaspare, the only other person on the plane with the skills to fight the rebels and save the other passengers, who are taken hostage by the thugs and held for ransom. With his handcuffs removed, Gaspare proves to be a whiz with knives, machine guns, and sledgehammers. (He spent time in the French Foreign Legion.) From here, the film lurches and careens from one violent non-stop action sequence to the next, with enough killings, ambushes, fistfights, fires and explosions to keep fans of Con Air sated. The tight screenplay, by Charles Cumming and J. P. Davis, juxtaposes savage jungle action with the frantic and ever-changing strategy back at airline headquarters supervised by the crisis manager on whom so many lives depend (played by the handsome, always reliable veteran, Tony Goldwyn ).

Gerard Butler gets a rare chance to show his humane side playing Brodie, who’s not always been the best father in the past but is anxious to make up for lost time by getting home in time to start the New Year with his daughter. Mr. Buttler proves he needs to branch out more and act in more sensitive roles beyond the limitations of thriller flicks. Most of the characters are one-dimensional cyphers, but the actors are first-rate—especially Yoson An as the mild-mannered but keenly reliable and steadily non-plussed Hong Kong-based co-pilot and Mike Coltor as the juggernaut with the criminal past who turns out to have a heart.   

Nothing new here to anyone who has seen Nicolas Cage in Con Air, Stephen Segal in Under Siege, or Liam Neeson in just about anything, but Plane is so well made and vastly entertaining you won’t even think about glancing at your watch.

Observer Reviews are regular assessments of new and noteworthy cinema.

• SEE ALSO : ‘Under the Bridge’ Review: A Miniseries That Interrogates the True Crime Genre

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Screen Rant

Plane review: butler & colter star in mindless, entertaining action thriller.

The film is funny at times and violent in others, but it lives up to the standard entertainment factor, yielding the first pleasant surprise of 2023.

Scottish action star Gerard Butler plays the brave and determined pilot, Brodie Torrance, in Jean-François Richet’s action thriller, Plane . Forced to preemptively land his commercial aircraft after it suffers mechanical issues during a lightning storm, Torrance pulls out all the stops to keep his passengers safe. Written by Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis, the film combines the best of early action filmmaking with gritty storytelling in a way that will compel viewers to flock to theaters. The film is funny at times and violent in others, but most importantly, it lives up to the standard entertainment factor, yielding the first pleasant surprise of 2023.

The story follows Brodie as he makes a risky landing on a war-torn island in the Sulu Archipelago, resulting in his surviving passengers being taken hostage by threatening rebels. His only hope to save them is Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), an accused murderer with a history of military training. Louis also happens to be in transport by the FBI as he is considered dangerous, which proves to be useful in the long run. Together, they traverse through the jungle and unknown threats to retrieve the passengers as they await rescue from an unlikely resource.

Related: Gerard Butler & Mike Colter Interview: Plane

Set mostly on an aircraft or island, Plane is a result of anxiety-inducing action sequences and fun banter among the film’s two leads. As a whole, Davis and Cumming’s story has a great deal going for it. The script is easy to follow, the stakes are high, and there’s non-stop action to keep viewers entertained. But underneath this adrenaline-powered film lies a story about a regular guy trying to do the right thing with the little resources available to him. And as is, this element makes it easy to cheer for the leads and enjoy some great surprises along the way.

As the film progresses, more limitations become apparent with respect to character depth. For example, it is revealed early on that Butler’s Brodie is trying to get to home to spend New Year’s Eve with his daughter Daniela (Haleigh Hekking). Comments like “I’m glad we’re doing this” from his daughter indicate a reconnection that they’re trying to build. Yet, there aren’t many moments in which the relationship between the pair becomes central to Brodie’s characterization. Incorporating such human elements would have strengthened the script even further — even if used in simple dialogue. It’s a missed opportunity to say the least.

As a result of some characterization shortcomings, the film tends to lag in its second act. Moments that would have been perfect to understand who Brodie and Louis are as individuals (outside their current circumstances) rarely happen. This introduces some pacing issues that are too obvious to ignore. Still, plenty of compelling moments follow, with brutal scenes to showcase just how dangerous their situation is. Given these various shifts in pacing and flaws within how certain characters are written, the viewing experience for Plane isn’t entirely balanced. Yet, it’s satisfying enough to be a pleasant surprise for audiences.

The latest white-knuckle action thriller from Lionsgate brings a certain rush. From the thrilling plane sequences and combat scenes to the subtle humor throughout, Plane is the kind of mindless entertainment that viewers will welcome to start their new year. There are plenty of stakes throughout this simple story to justify a viewing in theaters thanks to fun surprises within. Additionally, early promises of keeping viewers on the edge of their seat are thoroughly fulfilled from beginning to end. And though it runs out of steam during its second act, Butler and company do everything they can to keep the energy going, closing out the film with a well-earned bang.

More: The Old Way Review: Donowho’s Standard American Western Has Heart & Humor

Plane releases in theaters on January 13. The film is 107 minutes long and rated R for violence and language.

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• DVD & Streaming
• Action/Adventure , Drama

Content Caution

In Theaters

• January 13, 2023
• Gerard Butler as Brodie Torrance; Mike Colter as Louis Gaspare; Daniella Pineda as Bonnie; Yoson An as Dele; Tony Goldwyn as Scarsdale; Paul Ben-Victor as Hampton; Evan Dane Taylor as Junmar

Home Release Date

• February 3, 2023
• Jean-François Richet

Distributor

Movie review.

Capt. Brodie Torrance may look like any average, nice-guy pilot as he welcomes his passengers onboard. He may even sound like your typical dad-joke spewing dude while chuckling over the plane’s intercom system.

But he’s more than that.

Truth is, Brodie is pretty no-nonsense when it comes to the safety of his plane, his crew and his passengers. If some drunken idiot gets too loud and starts throwing punches during a flight, Brodie has the experience and wherewithal to handle the situation in whatever way is necessary. He knows his stuff, even when it doesn’t follow the exact letter of the airline’s policy-book law.

And in this case, that’s a very good thing. While piloting his Trailblazer Airlines flight from Singapore to Japan, his plane gets struck by lightning. That devastating electrical hit fries the plane’s avionics. It sends passengers cartwheeling through the cabin, two of them in deadly ways. And it causes the crippled plane to necessarily swoop toward the ocean below, with only 10 minutes of direct battery power keeping it aloft.

It’s Brodie’s skill alone that spots a fog-shrouded little patch of land in the Jolo Island cluster and miraculously sets the huge aircraft down relatively intact.

This, however, is only the tip of Capt. Brodie Torrance’s challenge. Because now he has a plane-full of passengers to care for on an island run by separatist’s and thugs—an island so dangerous that the Filipino government won’t even dare to send its army there anymore.

Trailblazer Airlines flight 119 doesn’t have an army, however. It doesn’t have an armory of weapons. It doesn’t even have any sharp eating utensils. All flight 119 has is Captain Brodie Torrance. And that will have to be enough.

Positive Elements

We meet one other person on the plane with military experience, a guy named Louis Gaspare. The problem is that Gaspare is a fugitive being transported back to the states for a murder he committed 15 years ago. (His police escort is killed in the lightning strike on the plane.) Despite that, Brodie decides to uncuff the man in hopes that his experience will help them all stay alive.

Gaspare and Brodie work together (risking their own lives) to fight off the aggressive killers on the island and save the plane’s passengers. Several other female crewmember risk themselves to help the passengers as well. Both Brodie and his co-pilot are motivated by pictures of family members they love.

Spiritual Elements

A small group of people state that they are missionaries.

Sexual Content

A flight attendant hides the flight manifest inside her shirt, keeping it from the separatists.

Violent Content

When lightning first hits Brodie’s plane, we see people cartwheeling around the plane cabin. Two passengers seemingly break their necks when striking hard surfaces. Brodie gets slammed into an overhead bin and cuts his brow, it bleeds freely.

All in all, though, the majority of injuries and deaths are caused by gunfire after the plane lands on the island. (That combat occurs between the island separatists, Brodie and Gaspare, and a well-equipped rescue team of hired mercenaries.) We see people bloodied, wounded and killed on a regular basis by men brandishing pistols and rifles. In fact, one large gunfight results in scores of people being shot. Several are killed with rifle shots to the head, causing large blood spatters. A large-caliber, high-powered rifle is used to stop vehicles and then to blast open people standing behind the vehicles.

Some characters fight hand to hand, battering and strangling each other. Gaspare and Brodie stab foes and slit their throats. Gaspare slams two guys with a sledgehammer, leaving them unconscious and bloodied (and possibly dead). Brodie gives himself up at one point to aid the group of passengers and he’s beaten by thugs. He’s also shot twice.

Passengers are murdered by the separatists for moving after they were told not to. A man is possibly decapitated with a sharp blade (offscreen) in one such case. We see a room covered in bullet holes and blood smears—indicating torture and murder—and watch a film showing missionaries that were held in that room.

There are several tense, perilous scenes where the large airliner veers about dangerously, nearly crashing. One of the fuel tanks doesn’t empty during one landing, making the plane a potential “firebomb.” One man gets crushed by the front landing gear of the speeding airliner.

Crude or Profane Language

Some 20 f-words spatter the dialogue, along with a dozen or so s-words and one use of “h—.” God’s and Jesus’ names are both misused once each (with the former being combined with “d–n.”)

Drug and Alcohol Content

As the flight begins, we see passengers drinking beer and glasses of champagne.

Other Negative Elements

It’s implied that the separatists regularly hold innocent people for ransom and then either kill them or enslave them.

Some movies invite introspection, thoughtful discussion and maybe even spirited arguments over the deeper themes in play.

Plane is not one of those movies.

No, Plane is as straight flying and no-nonsense as its title suggests. This pic doesn’t mess about with character development, sub-plots or twisty story turns. It’s simply a tight, intense actioner. Granted, it sticks its landing with knotted muscles, gritted teeth and a grunting sigh.

But all the profane language and bloody mess tucked in its overhead bin still spills out on your head.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – Plane (2023)

February 3, 2023 by Robert Kojder

Plane , 2023.

Directed by Jean-François Richet. Starring Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, Tony Goldwyn, Daniella Pineda, Paul Ben-Victor, Remi Adeleke, Joey Slotnick, Evan Dane Taylor, Claro de los Reyes, Kelly Gale, Haleigh Hekking, Lilly Krug, Oliver Trevena, Tara Westwood, Quinn McPherson, Amber Rivera, Modesto Lacen, Jeff Francisco, Ariel Felix, Rose Eshay, Jessica Nam, Ricky Robles Cruz, Ángel Fabián Rivera, Heather Seiffert, and Kate Bisset.

A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he’s forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm.

As hilariously simplistic title Plane is for a film, it’s also a creative choice working in director Jean-François Richet’s (the Assault on Precinct 13 remake) favor. That’s not to say anyone is expecting heavy drama from a Gerard Butler flick, but everything about the marketing has made it clear to leave one’s brain at home. Of course, self-awareness is not alone enough to transcend a preposterous story, but there is an uproarious charm to Gerard Butler again in altruistic action mode.

This time, Gerard Butler plays commercial pilot Brodie Torrance, using his Scottish accent to deliver unquestionably corny one-liners while also busting heads and searching for mechanical airplane solutions as unbelievably dumb situations that elicit cackling unfold around him. Some decisions that push the plot further into motion and strand the passengers aboard this New Year’s Day flight from Singapore to Japan are bafflingly dumb, like unfastening a seatbelt during severe turbulence to stumble around picking up a dropped phone. However, they naturally slide into the vibe of this silly action flick that is, ultimately, an excuse to watch Gerard Butler and Mike Colter save the day.

Handcuffed and set to be extradited, Mike Colter’s violent Louis Gaspare turns out to be an invaluable resource, as lightning destroys the plane’s power, forcing Brodie and reliable co-pilot Dele (Yoson An) to emergency land on an unknown island that turns out to be Jolo, an area run down by religious extremist mercenaries to such a degree that the Philippine army refuses to interfere. Rather than pressure one of the passengers (a mostly interchangeable bunch except for one entitled, whiny jerk) into searching for assistance and information on where they are, Brodie wrestles with his morals before choosing to uncuff Louis.

To the surprise of virtually no one, Louis is a misunderstood person who had his life derailed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, coming around to the idea of supporting Brodie. One wants to make it home to his family while protecting his passengers at all costs (something sappy that Gerard Butler knows how to play up properly), and the other seeks freedom. The character work is solid, finding moments of sincere humanity amidst funny narrative implausibility.

Plane is a contrived movie that requires much suspension of disbelief, but once the characters are stuck on that island and caught in a war zone, with Brodie and the highly intimidating Louis fighting for everyone’s lives, there is a propulsive intensity to the action sequences. One hand-to-hand fight sequence between Brodie and a mercenary is a few minutes long and done in one take, allowing viewers to feel the visceral brutality of the struggle.

There’s also a grittiness to the violence that surprisingly functions well as a counterpoint to the inherent goofiness of the premise. The climactic escape is genuinely exhilarating, with the filmmakers demonstrating throughout a knack for constructing sustained suspense and bloody excitement. Perhaps most surprising is that there are some striking shots courtesy of cinematographer Brendan Galvin, notably using reflective mirrors and varying color palettes.

However, the thin script from Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis has no interest in exploring what is going on in this foreign land beyond them being villains. They hold persons of interest hostage for ransom money, and that’s all we come to learn. There is a desire to know more about what’s happening in this real place, but I suppose a Gerard Butler movie is the wrong place to seek those answers. For what it’s worth, despite little characterization, militia leader Junmar (Evan Dane Taylor) is appropriately heartless and scary, 

Frustratingly, there is also a subplot away from the island and at the airline headquarters where corporate crisis manager Scarsdale (Tony Goldwyn) formulates a rescue plan with his own mercenary group, increasingly at odds with a chairman more concerned with PR spins and what will result in the least amount of negative press rather than keeping everyone alive. This thematic diversion pitting business against saving human lives mostly disrupts the film’s forward momentum. 

Otherwise, Plane is a solid slice of Gerard Butler action with a side of Mike Colter, playing to their strengths. It’s noisy, mindless, and violent but endearingly so with a helping of laughter, whether intended or not. It’s competently directed and thrilling, overcoming a bare-bones script indulging in clichés and sentimentalism.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ ★ ★  / Movie: ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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Movie Review: “Plane”

“Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome aboard Trailblazer flight 119. If you’re looking for a flight full of adventure, Plane is your movie. If you’re looking for drama or action, Plane is your movie, though we might encounter some rough air there. Please ensure that your seats are upright and tray tables are stowed. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.”

Jean-François-Richet’s Plane , stars Gerard Butler as Captain Brodie Torrance.

When we first meet Torrance, decked out in his full captain’s uniform, he is in a hurried state, trying to get through airport security in Manilla. This is where a gag intended to run throughout Charles Cumming’s and J. P. Davis’ script (story by Cumming) involves Torrance’s I.D. badge. You’d think Torrance is unreliable because he is hurried in conversations with his daughter, Daniela (Haleigh Hekking). He is anything but, as Richet lulls us into this adventure.

Eventually, he clears security, but this is the least of his problems. Or our worries.

Plane is the type of film audiences clamor for. Check your baggage at the box office, turn off your mind, sit back, and relax. What follows is a story with a solid runway, decent action, and overwrought drama involving characters that don’t develop and situations that, while realistic in the modern age, can’t keep this Plane aloft. More on that in a minute.

See, I am a fan of aviation disaster films. No, I’m not combing crashes for evidence; I like the overwrought human drama the classic Airport series evokes. Even dopey modern movies like Turbulence appeal to me. Plane , instead, involves the human drama of survival and a redemptive story for Torrance.

Butler is convincing as Torrance; his only concern is getting his passengers out of this developing situation safely, and he won’t take crap from any passenger. Of course, he won’t take crap from a passenger, yet, when he suggests rerouting the flight around a storm that they are already aware of, the local Trailblazer senior captain denies the request, and he demurs. The film explains this but doesn’t reflect how the character handles himself. This only happens after Torrance meets his first officer, Samuel Dele (Yoson An, Mulan ), for the first time on the flight deck, an activity usually completed in the Pilot’s Briefing Room long before they board the aircraft. To be fair, the story doesn’t waste much time building on the impediments that get them in their situation in the first place.

After Trailblazer 119 encounters the storm, its navigation, radio systems, and cockpit displays fried, Torrance has one objective – to get the 14 passengers down safely. Among the passengers is Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter, Marvel’s Luke Cage ), a prisoner being escorted back to the United States for extradition.

Set in the Jolo island cluster of the Philippines, the stranded passengers encounter a band of pirates led by Dantu Junmar (Evan Dane Taylor; The Punisher ). Plane finds its ground in Taylor, who is as fearsome as Dantu, though he does not count on the camaraderie between Torrance and Gaspare. They get in his way as the action kicks in, fueled by adrenaline. “But they say redemption can be found in the most unusual places,” states Gaspare at one point. Redemption is a possibility for Gaspare, but it is a certainty for Torrance, who carries an incredible feeling of responsibility for his passengers, as any captain would. This is where the realism and experience Gerard Butler brings to so many of his films is employed.

That, and his Scots accent.

This is also where the challenges with the script started. Even though the crash, the drama, and the ensuing action are interconnected through Torrance, each of the three elements is disjointed and isolated; Plane feels as if it thought its throughline wasn’t enough of a rivet to hold itself together.

As Dantu captures the passengers, the Trailblazer executive staff tries to locate the airplane (remember, no power and no radio, so there is no way for the downed plane to communicate with the outside world). They bring in Tony Goldwyn’s Scarsdale, a former special forces operative turned corporate troubleshooter. You’d never know from the suit he wears or the smile he carries that he was special forces, but for his body language, Goldwyn sells the role, glibly saying he “can solve the problems you can’t solve” to the airline executives. It is within the situation room that we witness who Torrance is.

The action kicks into high gear as a rescue effort is eventually mounted. However, given the island’s isolated location, the Rambo -level lethality of the third act takes away some of the redemptive angles the film was going for. The rescue effort isn’t The Delta Force -level either, and Butler isn’t Chuck Norris. That isn’t Plane ‘s intent. The key to Torrance is that he’s an everyday, working-class pilot who owns up to his responsibilities.

Aiding Butler, in that regard, is Brendan Galvin’s cinematography. The confines of the 727 and the isolation of Julu visually define the story, opening the audience up to the real-world dangers Torrance faces. The editing from David Rosenbloom isn’t flashy; Plane is cut-and-dry as Galvin and Rosenbloom put us into Torrance’s shoes, defining  Plane ‘s foundation.

We’re drawn to Dantu’s piracy and Torrance’s ethics when we get to these points in the film. Richet’s direction is consistent; Butler plays Torrance with confidence that I didn’t expect. Because I don’t watch much television, I didn’t know what to expect from Colter, who gives a solid performance, even if his character doesn’t seem menacing for someone who supposedly committed murder.

The film gestated in pre-production for many years, and you can feel the “too many chefs, not enough cooks” syndrome bearing down on the script. Because I am a fan of airplane disaster classics, action films, and dramas, I should have been the perfect audience for Plane. With a solid foundation in Torrance, the story’s isolated elements of action, drama, and disaster don’t align.

As a survival film, Plane ’s realism ratches up the tension. As a disaster film, I’d question the realities of the aviation procedures depicted. The abilities of a problem solver to get the resources needed to mount the featured rescue happen in the real world. The action is deft and swift, even if they are heavy-handed.

The drama, though, is where Plane builds its flawed foundation, focused on one individual – Torrance. Butler sells the role. By isolating the plot from one individual whose personality is as isolated as the island they land on, the drama improves at the expense of the secondary characters, who become less essential to the immediacy of their situation. However, Joey Slotnick’s Sinclair, a passenger on the flight, gets the sniveling right, at least. A better balance between plot mechanics and character development would have allowed Plane to soar. As it sits, it’s as troubled as Trailblazer 119.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Action film has violence, language, iffy representation.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Amid the violence and peril are messages about the

Captain Brodie Torrance and Louis Gaspare, a convi

The cast includes prominent Asian characters, but

Scenes with violence and blood, death, and peril,

Language includes "f---ing," "hell," "f--k," "s--t

Dell Technologies ad is seen on a flight departure

Parents need to know that Plane is an action film with strong violence, language, and problematic depictions of diverse communities. Gerard Butler plays pilot Brodie Torrance, who teams up with a convicted felon with a military past, Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), to save a plane's passengers from dangerous…

Positive Messages

Amid the violence and peril are messages about the importance of using courage and teamwork to save innocent lives.

Positive Role Models

Captain Brodie Torrance and Louis Gaspare, a convicted felon, work together to save the passengers of the ill-fated plane. They and the rest of the passengers show courage in the face of fear.

Diverse Representations

The cast includes prominent Asian characters, but the Philippines is portrayed as crime-ridden and rife with ineffectual law enforcement. And colorism is also in play, signaling which characters are "good" and "evil": Criminal characters are darker-skinned, while heroic Asian characters are lighter-skinned and present as more East Asian than Southeast Asian. The criminals' leader, Junmar (Evan Dane Taylor, who's Filipino American, African American and Native American), is one of the darkest of the Asian characters in the film. Meanwhile, many of the "good" East Asian characters still suffer, including those amid the stranded passengers who are sacrificed to garner sympathy for the others. And the main East Asian character, co-pilot Dele (Yoson An), is competent and capable, but is presented as a sidekick of sorts to the White Captain Torrance (Gerard Butler). Black characters are also below the White hero on the importance scale, and while Louis (Mike Colter) is heroic, he's also associated with violence, as is the leader (Remi Adeleke) of the mercenaries who help the passengers escape. Other racially diverse characters are present, including chief flight attendant Bonnie (Daniella Pineda, a Mexican American actress). But the majority of these characters have few to no lines. Bonnie does speak, but her characterization is limited to being calm under pressure and efficient despite serious pressure.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Scenes with violence and blood, death, and peril, including a plane crash, kidnapping, and torture. Guns are shown/used, sometimes fatally. Another character is killed via choking/neck breaking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Language includes "f---ing," "hell," "f--k," "s--t," "goddamn."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Dell Technologies ad is seen on a flight departure board.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Plane is an action film with strong violence, language, and problematic depictions of diverse communities. Gerard Butler plays pilot Brodie Torrance, who teams up with a convicted felon with a military past, Louis Gaspare ( Mike Colter ), to save a plane's passengers from dangerous separatists in the Philippines. Expect many intense scenes with violence and blood, death, and peril, including a plane crash, kidnapping, torture, and weapons (guns are used to kill people). Language is strong, too, with use of "f--k," "s--t," "goddamn," and more. While characters demonstrate courage and teamwork, there are troubling aspects to how the film's non-White characters are represented. Darker-skinned, Southeast Asian-presenting actors are cast as criminals, while lighter, more East Asian-presenting actors are cast as "good guys." And Black characters are coded as heroic but violent. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (2)
• Kids say (4)

Based on 2 parent reviews

Good action film for teens+

A disappointing action-flick may be entertaining, but it's too weak to even get past the drudgery plot., what's the story.

PLANE follows Captain Brodie Torrance ( Gerard Butler ) as the plane he's flying with co-pilot Dele (Yoson An) crash lands. They wind up on an island in the Philippines that's run by separatists who are led by Junmar (Evan Dane Taylor). Torrance and one of the passengers on the plane, convicted felon Louis Gaspare ( Mike Colter ), must work together to take on the separatists, save the passengers, and get off the island alive.

Is It Any Good?

Aside from its problematic representation elements (see below), this movie hits all the major beats you'd expect from both an action film and, specifically, a Butler-led action film. He plays a "average guy" who wants to get home to his family, finds himself in peril, and must fight his way out of it. It's formulaic, but it works. But when you factor in the film's colorism, Plane immediately becomes less fun. Unfortunately, goodness feels directly related to skin tone here. The villains -- led by Junmar, who's played by the African American/Native American/Filipino American Taylor -- are distinctly darker-skinned than the movie's other Asian characters, including co-pilot Dele and some passengers. And Blackness feels associated with violence: Even though characters like Louis and Shellback (Remi Adeleke) are among the "good guys," it's because they have useful -- and violent -- military skills. Of course, their violence is the "good" kind, in contrast to the violence of the separatists, which is used to dehumanize them (we never find out exactly why they're separatists, which could have provided some context, nuance, and humanization to their actions). Overall, Plane says nothing new and reinforces painful cliches, making it feel more like a film from the 1980s or '90s than 2023.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the quality of the diverse representations in Plane . Where does it fall short? What could it have done better? How does colorism come into play?

How do the characters demonstrate courage and teamwork ? Why are those important character strengths?

Talk about the movie's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

Do you consider a Captain Torrance a hero? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

• In theaters : January 13, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : February 2, 2023
• Cast : Gerard Butler , Mike Colter , Yoson An , Evan Duane Taylor
• Director : Jean-Francois Richet
• Inclusion Information : Black actors, Asian actors
• Studio : Lionsgate
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 107 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violence and language
• Last updated : October 6, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Plane: movie release date, reviews, trailer, cast and everything we know about the action flick

Gerard Butler, action star, is still fun to watch for movie fans.

Kick off the 2023 new movie slate with a bang with Plane , an action movie starring Gerard Butler, who has become the king of fan-favorite B-action movies. Under-the-radar movies like Copshop , Greenland and Angel has Fallen have been hits with fans, often because of their maybe silly but earnest concepts and fun action sequences.

If you're caught up with the 2022 movies you needed to see and you're looking for something different after the movies up for Oscars , Plane could be just the thing to go and see. Here's everything you need to know.

Plane movie release date

Plane is one of the first new movies of 2023, arriving exclusively in US movie theaters on January 13. It arrives in the UK on January 27. Here's what you need to know on how to watch Plane . 

It's set to be an alternative if you've already seen M3GAN (releasing on January 6) and are not interested in the new Tom Hanks movie, A Man Called Otto (going wide in the US on January 13).

Plane movie plot

Here is the official synopsis for Plane from Lionsgate:

"In the white-knuckle action movie Plane , pilot Brodie Torrance saves his passengers from a lightning strike by making a risky landing on a war-torn island — only to find that surviving the landing was just the beginning. When most of the passengers are taken hostage by dangerous rebels, the only person Torrance can count on for help is Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), an accused murderer who was being transported by the FBI. In order to rescue the passengers, Torrance will need Gaspare's help, and will learn there's more to Gaspare than meets the eye."

Plane movie cast

Gerard Butler stars as Brodie Torrance. Butler broke out with the epic action movie 300 and while he has tried his hand at a few different genres and been a part of some major hits (like the How to Train Your Dragon franchise), action is where he shines. He's led the Fallen trilogy ( Olympus Has Fallen , London Has Fallen and Angel Has Fallen ), while also getting solid notices for movies like the aforementioned Greenland , Copshop and more.

Sharing top-billing with Butler is Mike Colter as Louis Gaspare. Colter's biggest role to date was as Luke Cage in the Marvel original series, but he has also had a starring role on the Paramount Plus original series Evil . Other notable roles have included The Good Wife and Million Dollar Baby .

The rest of the Plane cast features Yoson An ( Mulan ) as Dele, Danielle Pineda ( Jurassic World: Dominion ) as Bonnie, Paul Ben-Victor ( Pam & Tommy ) as Hampton, Remi Adeleke ( The Terminal List ) as Shellback, Joey Slotnick ( Twister ) as Sinclair, Evan Dane Taylor ( The Enemy Within ) as Junmar, Claro de los Reyes as Hajan and Tony Goldwyn ( Scandal ) as Scarsdale.

Plane movie trailer

Gerard Butler and Mike Colter team up to save the day in the official trailer for Plane . Watch right here. 

There's also this minute long trailer that came out in early January:

Plane movie reviews — what the critics are saying

The reviews for Plane are rolling in, including What to Watch's Plane review . In it, we say that if you're ready to turn your brain off and just enjoy the action as its being presented to you, the latest Gerard Butler action movie is not going to disappoint.

It seems that Plane is teetering on a similar kind of line with other critics, with those who can live with its routine action movie proceedings and those who wonder why we needed another example of this. As of January 11, Plane is "Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes , right at the cut line of 60%.

How long is Plane movie?

Plane has a runtime of one hour and 47 minutes.

What is Plane movie rated?

Plane has been given an R rating in the US for violence and language. At this time there is no official rating for the UK.

Plane movie director

The director of Plane is France's Jean-François Richet. Most of Richet's movies are primarily in French, including Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 , though he has done some English-language films like 2005's Assault on Precinct 13 and the Mel Gibson movie Blood Father . 

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Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca , Moulin Rouge! , Silence of the Lambs , Children of Men , One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars . On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd .

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Plane movie review: Gerard Butler-Mike Colter keep you at the edge of your seat in this intense thriller

In Plane, Gerard Butler as pilot Brodie Torrance is on a mission to save his passengers from militants.

Director: Jean-François Richet

Starring: Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, Tony Goldwyn

Language: English

When the trailer of Plane released on the internet, fans shared that it looks a signature Gerard Butler movie and I must say this is a tailor-made role for the action star.

Well, talking about Plane , the story of the movie can be explained in a single line but what makes it a worth-watch is a gripping screenplay, which keeps you at the edge of your seat right from the first frame.

The story introduces us to an airplane commercial pilot, Captain Brodie Torrance (played by Gerard Butler ), who is in charge of a 14-passenger plane along with his co-pilot (played by Yoson An). In the passengers’ list there is also a convicted murderer Louis Gaspare (played by Mike Colter ) who is handcuffed and taken by a cop. Brodie is piloting a flight from Singapore on New Year’s eve to Tokyo.

While Brodie suggests not to fly due to bad weather, the Trailblazer Airlines executive decides to send the plane in the direction of the storm as it will save fuel cost and give a shorter route.

Within a few minutes of take-off, the plane gets hit by lightning, which leads to an electrical malfunction. In the panic situation, both pilots manage to crash the plane on Jojo Island. But little as they that Island is a habitat of a group of anti-government militants. While Brodie goes into the wood to seek help for communication, militants kidnap all the passengers and keep them at a godown. Now, Brodie realises that his mission is now not only to reach to the desired destination but also to save all the passengers from the militants’ trap. Louis Gaspare garners Brodie trust and they together battle to keep all the passengers save. Now, will they succeed or some other twist is waiting for them? For that, you have to watch the Jean-François Richet directorial.

Plane ranks high in terms of gripping narration and star performances. While Gerard Butler once again justifies his title of an action star, Mike Colter perfectly fits the bill as Louis Gaspare. While the film lacks emotional depth, its crisp duration along with impeccable and raw action sequences make Plane a worth-watch.

Rating: 3.5 (out of 5 stars)

Plane is releasing on 13 January in theatres near you

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Plane review – Gerard Butler’s rickety thriller never takes off

The actor plays a pilot tasked with an emergency landing and then an island full of criminals in a B-movie that needs some more thrills

O ne of the many reasons schlock horror M3gan become such a surprise critical darling last week was down to Universal’s crafty release strategy, sashaying into the otherwise dead zone of January, easily leaping over an extremely low bar. This week reminds us of what the month usually offers US cinema-goers – an unwanted comedy remake , a horror film for Christians and a Gerard Butler action thriller – junk that’s easy for the studios to dump and even easier for audiences to forget.

Already the subject of social media jabs because of its ridiculous title, the Butler of it all, a film about a plane called Plane, is a January movie through and through, filling empty screens just because they need filling, doing the least but at an aggressively loud volume. There have certainly been worse B-movies released in this most cursed of months (last year’s kidnapped mermaid saga The King’s Daughter and 2020’s staggeringly, almost satirically, incompetent Blake Lively thriller The Rhythm Section spring to mind) but there have also recently been far better (slay M3gan slay etc) and as such, Plane doesn’t exactly rise above that low bar but sort of meets it head-on.

For a film called Plane, there’s really not as much plane as one would hope here, disappointing given how ideal that setting can be for a B-thriller that might be in need of a lift, exemplified by Rachel MacAdams in Red Eye, Jodie Foster in Flight Plan, Liam Neeson in Non-Stop and, hopefully, Taron Egerton in the upcoming Carry On . Everything you need to know about Plane can more easily be summed up by Butler’s absurd character name – Brodie Torrance, something one would expect to find in a half-price airport potboiler. He’s a salt-of-the-earth Scottish pilot, whose character can best be described as pilot, tasked with flying a tiny number of passengers on a new year’s flight from Singapore to Tokyo (anyone who has been on a plane in the last two years will find the large number of empty seats to be the most far-fetched thing about the film).

But there’s a lightning storm which forces Butler to make an emergency landing on a remote island in the Philippines. While he manages it with the grace of an unshaven Sully, he’s then tasked with keeping his passengers safe from a killer (Mike Colter) who was being transported onboard which would be bad enough until he finds out that the island is run by a violent group of rebels who have a history of kidnapping – and killing – foreigners.

A more accurate title would then be Island, but Plane is perhaps best at least for instructing audience on the best location to watch the film, half-awake, tipsy on wine served from a litre bottle. It’s usually the kind of dross that would arrive straight to one’s rental service of choice (like Butler’s last film, Last Seen Alive) and it’s only when one digs a little deeper, that we see the budget is a pretty considerable $50m, impressive enough whenever the release in this climate but at this time of year, that makes it the equivalent of a Marvel movie (in comparison, M3gan cost just $12m). It therefore needed to launch in your local multiplex to turn a profit although, it’s often a head-scratcher trying to figure out just where that money went. The cast, outside of Butler, Colter and a few scenes of a sleep-walking Tony Goldwyn, are mostly bit-players, the action scenes are mainly just lots of shooting and the plane scenes are often strangely shaky, as if someone is dangling a model plane on a piece of string.

It’s just about diverting enough for the most part but there’s something a little off about its pacing, French director Jean-François Richet (who peaked a while back with his propulsive Mesrine movies) struggling to corral his moving parts, suspense never really arriving as it should. Instead, we get bullets, a boring amount of them in fact, with a finale based around who can shoot the most before that plane comes back into play. There are small mercies throughout: Butler is thankfully not attempting an American or, shudder, Irish accent (even if to prove he’s Scottish he says haggis in the first 15 minutes), his character is also not a readymade action hero (there’s one easy-to-empathise with moment when he takes a good 30 seconds to regain his breath after a fight) and Colter has real movie star presence on show here in bursts (even if it still feels waiting to be utilised properly).

It’s hard to hope for that much more in January and the silliness of Plane will probably do the job for those burned out by the stone-faced seriousness of awards season fodder but for a film all about unpretentious fun, I wish there had been a bit more of it.

Plane is out now in US cinemas and in the UK on 27 January

• Gerard Butler
• Action and adventure films

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