Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Plane. If you have yet to watch the latest Gerard Butler action flick, please disembark from the aircraft before the doors close.
I will be the first to admit, I like Gerard Butler movies way more than anyone should. I’ve always been a big supporter of his work – even before he became a go-to action star over the last decade or so – but the simple yet fun and enjoyable movies like Olympus Has Fallen, Geostorm, and a personal favorite of mine, Greenland just resonate with me for some reason.
When I first saw the trailer for Plane, his latest action vehicle, a few months ago, I told my wife: “I’m seeing this movie,” to which she responded with something like “Oh, don’t let me get in the way.”
Fast forward a couple of months, here I am having watched Plane opening weekend (I was one of four devoted fans in the audience), and do I have some thoughts about this one. This was a turbulent trip I won’t soon forget.
The Pairing Of Gerard Butler And Mike Colter Is Great
While I wouldn’t consider Plane to be a buddy action movie, the pairing of Gerard Butler’s commercial pilot Brodie Torrance and Mike Colter’s wanted fugitive Louis Gaspare is at the heart of Jean-Francois Richet’s latest directorial effort. The bond shared by the two leads in the Plane cast is one that is built up by a need for redemption – Torrance was put on the “shit-tier” flights after choking out a passenger years earlier, Gaspare is accused of killing someone 15 years ago – which adds some depth to the characters.
Sure, there’s a lot of badassery like slitting throats, choking dudes out in the jungle, and mowing down insurgents with semi-automatic rifles, but the emotional bond shared by these two is great and makes them feel more realized than they’d be otherwise.
The Action Movie Tropes Are Ridiculous And Ridiculously Fun
Here’s the thing, I’m a sucker for action movie tropes. And just like I did with Moonfall and its various glorious offenses this time last year, I’m doing the same with Plane, just on a much smaller scale. I mean, this movie has a little bit of everything: a disgraced hero looking for redemption, vehicles defying the laws of gravity and logic (especially when it comes to the plane taking off in the final act), unlimited ammo, bulletproof protagonists, the annoying rich businessman (played expertly by Joey Slotnick), and a lawless setting where not even the military will go.
Yeah, these are all ridiculous, but they are all also ridiculously fun, and prove that the movie is never above making fun of itself for the enjoyment of the audience. There were laughs, groans, and groaning laughs throughout.
I Was Not Expecting A Rambo (2008) Level Of Violence
When I first learned that Plane had received an R-rating, I thought there would be some heavy cussing, a lot of shooting, and one or two gnarly death scenes; I wasn’t expecting a level of violence that is up there with the 2008 Rambo movie (the one where Sylvester Stallone pretty much rips out a dude’s jugular). I’m not going to lie, there were a few times where I squirmed in my chair and mouthed “mother of god” from some of the violent kills.
There are decapitations, throats being slit, and an escape scene where a mercenary group hired by Trailblazer Airlines to rescue the passengers sees a private contractor shoot the bad guys with a sniper rifle so big the shots throw the targets into the air. The scene that takes the cake for me, however, is a one-on-one fight between Gerard Butler’s character and an insurgent that ends with Butler cracking the guy’s neck. And due to me buying a ticket to the closed caption screening, this moment included the text “bones cracking” across the screen during the fateful moment.
Please Tell Me I’m Not The Only One Who Thinks There Is A Con Air Reference In Plane
It is easy to see the comparisons between Plane and the iconic 1997 action flick Con Air, especially with both movies centering on a supposedly dangerous criminal being transported through the not so friendly skies. And while the two movies end up not having all that much in common with one another besides being over-the-top action flicks, there is one scene that I am certain is a reference to the Nicolas Cage classic.
Remember the scene in Con Air where Cage’s Cameron Poe leaves a message on Dave Chappelle’s dead body to let the authorities know they have a friend on the plane? Well, in Plane, Gerard Butler leaves a message on his uniform to let his potential rescuers know where to find the hostages. I could be overthinking this whole situation, but please let this be a conscious decision and not a coincidence. I need this.
Can We Get More Action Movies That Are Under Two Hours?
While it may be true that some of the best action movies of all time do well with a long run time, it doesn’t always need to be the case, and in fact, there are some films that should be a lot shorter. I think this is one of the reasons I enjoyed Plane as much as I did. Clocking in at one hour and 47 minutes, the movie doesn’t waste all that much time getting into the air, and never really lets off the gas until the credits roll.
This means I was able to catch a 7:30 p.m. showing, sit through 20-plus minutes of trailers, watch the movie, stop on my way home to pick up pull-ups for my kid, and pull into my garage before the 10 o’clock news. I honestly wish more movies would follow this route.
I Already Have A Wish List For Plane 2
We’ll have to wait and see if Lionsgate ends up giving Plane 2 permission to take off at some point in the future, but I do have a few items on my wish list in the event the Gerard Butler action flick gets a sequel.
Here are a few of them now:
- Brodie Torrance is put back on the “hot-shit” routes to New York, Paris, London, etc., and ends up having to save another downed plane.
- Louis Gaspere rejoins the French Foreign Legion and ends up receiving a distress call from his buddy, Brodie.
- Scarsdale (Tony Goldwyn) is put into the field and teams up with Brodie and Louis because this guy is cool as a cucumber and gives off the impression that he’s seen some serious shit
- It’s discovered Trailblazer Airlines isn’t just negligent with its dated planes, but instead hoping for a disaster to pull some kind of scheme
All in all, watching Plane was an enjoyable experience. Was it the best movie I’ve seen? No. Was it the worst? Far from it. If other movies on the 2023 release schedule are just as fun, however, it’s going to be a great year at the cinema.
