Plane (Film Review)

2023 Lionsgate
Directed by: Jean-François Richet; Written by: Charles Cumming and J. P. Davis
Starring: Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, and Tony Goldwyn
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 107 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

After a physical altercation with an unruly passenger, commercial pilot, Brodie Torrance, is forced to take on red eye flights in the Eastern Pacific. One fateful night, Brodie, who also once flew for the RAF, is tasked with piloting a sparsely booked flight from Singapore to Honolulu through severe weather, by a greedy manager who doesn't think postponing the flight will be cost-efficient. Sure enough, despite Brodie's best efforts, Flight 119 suffers severe storm damage and is forced into an emergency landing. Through superhuman effort, Brodie is able to find a viable island and put the plane down manually, just as it runs out of power. Unfortunately, the island is run by violent rebels who love to take hostages. When Brodie goes off to look for help, the dozen or so passengers who survived the emergency landing are captured. Now, Brodie will have to rely on the only other free passenger to rescue the others. Unfortunately, that passenger is Louis Gaspare, a recently captured homicide suspect, whose guardian died in the flight. Meanwhile, the airline company's crisis manager calls in a team of private mercenaries to rescue the survivors of Flight 119. Can Brodie trust Louis and can the duo keep the passengers alive long enough to buy time for the mercenary team rescue? Holy cow, I hope so!
Up until now, I haven't seen any of the work of French director, Jean-François Richet, but several of his films are on my "to watch" list. Consider those movies now moved up much higher on my list. Richet's 2023 film, Plane, is one of the best action films in years. Richet films in a sort of cinéma vérité that perfectly blends realism and stylistic excellence. There's a unique combination of "just the facts, m'aam" and "look how cool this angle is" perfectionism that's rarely seen and flawlessly executed here, even if the film's structure is simple and its thematic depth shallow. Plane ratchets up the tension from the first frame, ominous lightning strikes immediately creating unease, as suspenseful sequence after suspenseful sequence unfolds: the plane crash, the passengers' kidnapping, an incredible, brutally realistic one-take fight between Brodie and a henchman, the attempts at rescue. Richet's no-nonsense approach keeps the film moving along briskly to where cuts back to the airline headquarters don't kill the film's momentum. In fact, those scenes are quick, miraculously enjoyable breathers that would likely be boring distractions in lesser film.
The film's co-leads are also perfectly cast. As Brodie, an aging Gerard Butler brings gravitas to the role, but he is, after all, playing a pilot and not a military commando. This allows Butler to show a bit of vulnerability he hasn't previously had the chance to display, and he does so quite well. As Louis, Luke Cage's Mike Colter exudes just the right amount of mysterious menace, but also a great sense of physicality, as he's meant to serve as the sort of character Brodie would defer to or rely upon in a violent altercation...and boy does this film have them. 

Richet ramps up the action slowly, which may disappoint adrenaline junkies expecting a massive action beat every ten minutes. Instead, Richet consistently increases the severity and scale of the situation, leading up to a massive, supremely satisfying gun battle when the mercenaries finally arrive. It's all about buildup and payoff, and Richet's grasp of this is masterful. Plane may not have the most imaginative title, but it's a film I intend to watch for years to come.