Local Review: Plane a turbulent, fun ride
Jan. 20—ANDERSON — Corporate greed, foreign enemies and bad weather made "Plane" an interesting but fairly predictable film.
In light of the fiasco with Southwest Airlines and Federal Aviation Administration system failure, this film couldn't be more relevant.
Prior to taking off, the pilot, Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler) alerts his boss about rerouting to avoid inclement weather, which falls on deaf ears.
The higher-up insists they follow the preset route to potentially save time and money.
As passengers board, audiences get a sliver of their personalities, which aren't great.
Passenger Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter) is a prisoner in transit. He is a convicted murderer, who is to be kept separate from other passengers.
Jerky passengers and a potential murderer are the least of their worries.
As Butler predicted, the group gets stuck in a major storm and the plane is struck by lightning.
This is probably one of the best scenes in the film. It's enough to leave the heart pounding for a bit and trust me, you'll need it to get through some of this film.
After they land on Jolo, a war-torn island in the Philippines, one of my least favorite action movie tropes comes into focus, which is the characters' lack of basic survival skills.
Only Gaspare and Torrence seem to have a clue, while the passengers whine and point fingers. It's as if they see themselves as "paying customers" in that they expect so much, but do so little.
I'm no survivalist, but if I'm in the jungle, I'm looking for food and/or a local who can help. Unlike a lot of action/horror characters, I wouldn't go alone.
As far as characters go, Butler's character is admirable, but mediocre. I didn't feel for him as much as Gaspare, the "real" lead character.
Despite fitting the "scary convict" stereotype in the beginning, he turns out to be a kind man, who's willing to help others.
Such help is needed when the real villains, a militia, find out about the crash and its survivors.
Despite a few scary moments, the militia seems fairly tame.
Though set up to be powerful enough to keep the government at bay, they are easily subdued by Gaspare and a rescue team, during the final battle.
In my opinion, a great villain is an individual or group who makes the protagonists' lives a living hell from start to finish; they should be formidable and seemingly unbeatable.
Stateside, another battle was underway inside the airline conference room about how to balance people and profits.
Scarsdale, the airline's crisis manager, criticizes the airline for choosing the latter and risking lives as a result.
The corporate officials seemed to have a heart, instead of fitting the corporate America stereotype so common in movies.
Despite its problems, "Plane" is an enjoyable action film that I would happily see again. In the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, it was "another happy landing."
Follow Caleb Amick on Twitter @AmickCaleb. Contact him at caleb.amick@heraldbulletin.com or 765-648-4254.
