Plane

I heard of Plane exactly a single day before I decided to see it, thanks to some largely positive word-of-mouth (though nothing quite as loud as last week's offering). There was talk of a silly trailer that seemed to have nothing to do with the "plane" (hadn't seen it) and I'd subconsciously written off this Gerard Butler movie the same way I do most Liam Neeson films by this point because...well...I think we all know why. 

But hey! Liam Neeson's best actioner (by a mile) is The Grey, and that has a plane crash...so maybe this would end up being Gerard Butler's? 

Alas, it's not his best actioner, but Plane, despite all its simplicity and lack of marketing, is a completely solid thriller that delivers what it's selling. It never does anything exceptionally well, but it never outright falters either. While it's not something I can say I'll wholly remember come end of year, I was highly engaged during the ~1hr 45min runtime for a host of reasons. 

The premise isn't anything special, but there's a raw "realness" to it and Gerard Butler's Captain Torrance is a stoic, Scottish everyman that he sells well. This is not 300 King Leonidas but rather a captain looking after his passengers and nearly vomiting after he kills someone to protect them. There's certainly a lot more that could have been done - for example, do we really learn a single thing about any passengers? - but it instead chooses the lean and mean route. That's to its benefit because it never overstays its welcome and feels well-paced overall, with some above-average action beats that create genuine intensity and butt-glued-to-your-seat moments. 

For a month that's usually not known for its quality (aside form awards contenders that finally make their way to general audiences), Plane still feels like a January film, but one that I didn't mind watching at all and would probably watch on TV again in the future. 

Rapid Rath's Review Score | 7/10