The most surprising thing about Plane is its restraint. Scottish actor Gerard Butler has developed a cottage industry for B-grade action thrillers, and his latest certainly succeeds on those terms. But Jean-François Richet, perhaps best known for his ruthless remake of Assault on Precinct 13, knows his way around an action film. There is a refreshing confidence to the story that can only be accomplished by a journeyman genre director, and perhaps more importantly, he gets involved in the characters before any bullets fly.
Indeed, the screenplay by Charles Cumming and J. P. Davis first develops as a more traditional jungle adventure. Butler plays Brodie Torrance, a Scottish airplane pilot who is flying from Singapore to Tokyo on New Year’s Eve. Two last-minute additions make his flight memorable: he is told by company brass that he must fly through an intense storm, and a handcuffed fugitive named Louis (Mike Colter) joins with an armed escort. Neither development is a problem for Brodie, who is a skilled professional who rolls with the punches, at least until the plane is struck by lightning. Left with no electricity or guidance system, Brodie must keep the plane in the air as long he can, hoping he find land in the South Pacific.
There is plenty of important, matter-of-fact detail to Richet’s approach. He does not shoot the storm and subsequent crash-landing with a flurry of crazed editing, nor do the passengers immediately resort to histrionics. Instead, Plane unfolds like a series of small problems that must be resolved. At one point, Brodie says to his co-captain that dealing with an emergency means thinking about what they must accomplish “one minute at a time.” Richet follows that ethos, dealing with the immediate reality of the crash and its aftermath in relatively practical terms. There is also an elegant solution to the problem of the fugitive character: Brodie uncuffs him, saying they must work together to find help. Turns out Louis is ex-military (of course he is), and his training is important in the subsequent conflict.
When Plane introduces violence into the plot, it’s done in such an organic way that casual viewers might miss what Richet accomplishes. Soon after Brodie and Louis realize a violent militia occupy the island, one of them attacks Brodie. The fight is messy, with two bodies clawing for whatever advantage they might find. Richet shoots this in an unbroken take, one that underscores the desperate nature of the action. There is a formal reason to this choice, well beyond the common trope in modern action that uninterrupted takes look cool. Brodie defeats his foe, but only barely, which adds edgy realism to the action that follows. Tony Goldwyn adds to that realism as a crucial supporting character, a corporate security expert at airline headquarters who leads the rescue operations, and his way of cutting to the chase only adds to the credibility (while, naturally, providing expository dialogue).
The rescue operation conveniently involves hiring mercenaries, who show up right now when all appears to be lost for the captain and his passengers. Once again, Richet has gone through the rudiments of a good action scene without being obvious about it. We understand the battle lines, more or less, and the plan of attack on both sides. For eager action fans, this is where Plane starts to resemble what we expect from a Butler vehicle: the blood splatter is frequent and kind of funny, at least in a Grand Guignol way, plus one mercenary head-shots the militiamen with a high-powered rifle that leads to an agreeable slapping sound of flesh on metal. And when the head villain meets his inevitable end, there is note of physical comedy that suggests – despite the competence with which it has been made – no one behind Plane takes it too seriously.
Action films like this were common 15 to 20 years ago. Now with the need for franchises and sequels, the idea of a disaster-based action thriller is almost quaint. Richet, and Butler by extension, understand there is an audience for a dumb story that’s shrewdly told, with characters whose fate we care about. There is not much chemistry between Colter and Butler, and to their credit, they’re not even straining for effect. Plane knows you’ve seen an unlikely buddy-driven action film before, and it hurries through clichés rather than dwelling on them. If you can lose your audience with one dull moment, after all, it’s best to work through things one suspenseful minute at a time.
Photo courtesy of Lionsgate
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