About the film (courtesy of Lionsgate):
Pilot Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler) saves his passengers from a lightning strike by making a risky landing on a war-torn island – only to find that surviving the landing was just the beginning. When most of the passengers are taken hostage by dangerous rebels, the only person Torrance can count on for help is Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), an accused murderer who was being transported by the FBI. In order to rescue the passengers, Torrance will need Gaspare’s help, and will learn there’s more to Gaspare than meets the eye.

This being the second week of the new year aka still breeding grounds for much weaker cinematic offerings, I figure that my luck of finding another January gem after being pleasantly surprised by last week’s M3GAN. So, with that in mind, expectations have been once again tempered going into this week’s release, Plane starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter (Luke Cage).

Jean-François Richet’s action thriller (Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), Blood Father (2016)) has all of the telltale signs of one those films that will most likely end up being a tough watch. First off, your main star hasn’t been considered quite A-list material for a while now (if ever at all in some eyes out there). In this case that is Gerard Butler. Everyone else that you may recognize are either career role players with very few film feature roles. Then there’s the locale. Film in a place where you can obviously keep the production costs waaaaayyy down in order to get the project greenlit. Lastly, releasing in January and August are two months where movies often go to be enlisted in the witness protection program.

But hey, guess what? Plane doesn’t crash and burn like so many may assume! Jean-François Richet, along with writers Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis, cobble together a more-than-passable plot that contains a compelling and entertaining storyline. The fact that it’s rated R gives the impunity required to wreck shit up. Not quite along the lines of Rambo (2008) or The Expendables (2010), but this also starts to tally up violent deaths of uncredited extras.

Gerard Butler settles in quite nicely as the captain and protector of his crew and passengers as things go south. Mike Colter wields a slightly heavier hand as an unexpected ally forced into action by unavoidable circumstances. Paul Ben-Victor (In Plain Sight) and Tony Goldwyn (Ghost (1990)) also lend their talents to the mixed up mess of things. And being that every movie similar to Plane seemingly has to have that character that you just want to punch square in the face, Joey Slotnick (Twister (1996)) gets that illustrious honor.

Is Plane perfect? Not even close. Questionable decisions, clumsy dialogue and unnecessary plot points (makes me believe that there may be some material left on the cutting room floor) are all areas that weigh the storyline down at times. That being said, the overall execution is pretty darn good, especially by January standards. There’s enough human connection spread throughout to help earn its emotional attachment badge. But for what you’re really going to theaters to see this for, that’d be the action thriller portion, there’s enough of that help make for a smooth ride overall.

You can check out Plane only in theaters when it lands this Friday, January 13th with early showtimes on Thursday.