Is there a more reliable action movie star working today than Gerard Butler?
OK, Tom Cruise of course, but for smaller budget, fast-paced and enjoyable thrillers, Butler delivers with consistency & style.
PLANE features Butler as veteran airline pilot Brodie Torrance. Widowed, he's flying west from Asia to meet his daughter on New Year's Eve.
He's only got 14 passengers aboard, including convicted murderer Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter) and the FBI handler getting Gaspare back to the states.
A massive storm forces Torrance and his young co-pilot Sam (the solid Yoson An) to force a harrowing, death defying emergency landing on a remote island just east of nowhere.
The jungle island is controlled by rebel forces whose main industry is ransoming and killing missionaries from around the world.
As their temporary jungle landing spot is about to erupt in violence, the film starts deftly popping back and forth to the airline's NYC corporate headquarters. Tony Goldwyn (Ghost, The Pelican Brief) is perfectly cast as high priced crisis manager, Scarsdale. Mowing down corporate stooges in his path, Scarsdale mobilizes an international mercenary squad to get to the island and save the passengers.
Butler and Colter are great as two men faced to rely on each other, with Colter looking for redemption from a cloudy past. They're a kick ass duo, wielding fists, sledgehammers, knives and machine guns with lethal efficiency.
As always, Butler manages to weave in enough personal history of the character to raise the emotional stakes, including strong scenes between he and his daughter.
Evan Dane Taylor (The Peripheral, West Side Story) is menacing as the rebel leader and character actor Joey Slotnick (Twister and every major TV show of the last 20 years) is the whiny passenger we all love to hate.
Former Navy Seals trained the actors playing the mercenaries, along with Butler and Colter, and that commitment shows. The action scenes are fast, believable and exciting.
As long as Butler keeps delivering these sleek thrillers, I'll be enjoying them with a tall popcorn and a smile on my face.
PLANE lifts off nicely to a B.
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