Plane Review

Willpower alone is keeping the Gerard Butler-led action feature sub-genre afloat. Plane sees the action star soar through yet another high-quality B-Movie-styled feature. It would be rude to say that Butler has “peddled” or “continued” these action flicks, as if that is bad for the state of cinema. Plane has its place. Stronger and more grounded than Greenland, the sour taste of John Cusack’s 2012 lingers on, but his work alongside director Jean-François Richet is a fine bit of escapism. Butler picks up a pilot’s costume and ditches it, eventually, to get a gun and some tight-fitted shirts. Family values are the heart of Plane, much like they were in Home Alone, although there was less gun violence in the latter.

It is the mighty gun violence throughout this piece, and the suave, engaged leading performance from Butler, that makes it so much fun. Little intricacies in the boarding scenes give the important moments of everyday life. Shattering that is key to enjoying Plane, and Richet’s direction does well to go through the mundane procedures as entertainingly as possible. Key to all of these action films though, no matter what build-up or gunplay is found throughout, is the style of play that comes from a leading man’s persona. His character is more important than his actions. Butler’s delivery of dialogue is inherently unique. He makes a very broad and simple film of his own, a commitment that is lacking from other action heroes these days.

Butler then is the last action hero. He manages to hold the genre up on his own, with Plane one in a number of solid action flicks offered out by the Scottish star. His dependency on some harsher tones of militia-based madness is solid, and his chemistry with Mike Colter is solid, and surprisingly not as obvious at the first introduction as it could have been. Plane, importantly, manages to turn itself into a solid survival piece. It has the fundamentals found in Triangle of Sadness but without the wrought and poor quality of its necessary capitalist dissection. Plane doesn’t need anything of the sort to get going. It lands its plane, hands Butler and company a problem that only he can fix, and rides it out from there.

Considering the bad rap the likes of Cusack, Emile Hirsch and John Malkovich are giving the lower brow of the genre, Plane is a very important piece. It shows the trust in a good action flick is still there. Butler has led that charge time and time again. Plane feels like a much stronger work of his thanks to the direction of Richet. Colter and Butler build their characters well, and the shootouts are developed with great fear underlying them. Crucial to Plane is the risk involved, and making that feel real and intense is a hard task for any director. Ricochet makes it look easy. His gory moments are incredible. His action has power behind it and it makes those climactic shootouts, and the story at the core, such an enjoyable watch.