No Plane No Gain

In many ways Plane is the most generic action movie you could imagine. A former military man who is now a civilian pilot (played, of course, by Gerard Butler) crashes on a rebel malitia held island and must rescue his passangers from the local warlord. Some aspects are a somewhat different to the norm however, making the film a little different, if not necessarily better, than the premise suggests.

Firstly, the focus really is on the plane and the ability of Captain Broddie Torrance (classic name for a Butler character) to fly it. This gives the proceedings a disaster movie feel for larges stretches. The titular plane is very much of the plot driving (or flying) variety, able to withstand hails of bullets while being the only airliner not capable of shrugging off a lightning strike.

Butler's Captain Torrence is a little different than you might be expecting also. He isn't an ass kicking kill machine but rather just a very good pilot with a "no man left behind" attitude. Baddie killer in chief is Mark Colter as Louis Gaspare, a convicted killer in transit who comes in very handy when the hostage taking malitia show up. While the film does cast some doubt on his guilt it stops short of the usual "misunderstood giant with a heart of gold" trope, making it clear that he has no qualms with taking a life.

The final wrinkle is the portrayal of private military. Normally the villians, or at least morally dubious, here they are the tail kicking saviours, heroically stepping in when namby pamby governments can't or won't get the job done. Its actually quite a refreshing, if slighty right wing, change of pace.

Everything else is as by the numbers as it gets. Bad guys with the aim of one eyed stormtroopers? Check. Pointless filler involving loved ones at home? Check. Problems caused by bureaucracy? Check. Bad attitude member of the group giving everyone grief? Check. Nothing wrong with any of that necessarily but the flow isn't quite there. The two part story structure gives everything a rushed feel and the plot and characters are thin as they come.

Worth a watch as a time filler if you have couple of hours to kill (say on a Plane! ) but you'll forget it by the end of the credits.

6 bullet holes from 10 gunshots.

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