Gerard Butler plays Brodie Torrance, a pilot flying a mostly empty plane from Singapore to Tokyo on New Year's Eve. His main passenger is Louis Gaspare, a dangerous criminal being moved by a federal marshal. When lightning strikes during a bad storm, the plane crashes on a remote island in the Philippines controlled by armed rebels. Everyone survives the crash, but the rebels quickly capture most passengers to hold them for ransom money.
Torrance and Gaspare escape into the jungle and must work together to survive. Even though one is a pilot and the other is a criminal, they make a good team because Gaspare knows how to fight and kill people. Back at the airline office, the company bosses don't wait for government help. Instead, they hire private soldiers led by a man named Scarsdale to rescue everyone. While Torrance and Gaspare sneak through dangerous territory looking for a way to call for help, the rescue team gets ready for a big attack.
The movie builds up to a huge final battle where the hired soldiers fight the rebels while Torrance tries to fix the damaged plane just enough to fly everyone out. The ending has lots of gunfights, explosions, and Butler actually running over the main bad guy with the airplane's landing gear. Gaspare doesn't get on the rescue plane at the end - he disappears into the jungle with some money, which sets up a possible sequel.
This movie works because it keeps things simple and moves fast. Butler plays Torrance as a normal guy who happens to be a good pilot, not some impossible action hero. This makes his survival feel more realistic. Mike Colter makes Gaspare genuinely scary while showing why having a violent criminal as a partner might actually be useful in this situation. The movie never tries to make Gaspare into a good guy - he stays dangerous and morally questionable the whole time.
The action scenes are really exciting, especially a brutal part where someone gets shot with a huge sniper rifle and the crazy airport escape at the end. The movie is 107 minutes long and never feels slow or boring. Director Jean-François Richet keeps everything moving at a steady pace.
The airplane details are completely wrong, the plane looks like parts from different aircraft stuck together, and the flying procedures would horrify any real pilot. But complaining about realism misses the point because this is just meant to be entertaining.
The way the movie shows the Philippines feels outdated and potentially offensive. The island looks more primitive and lawless than it really is. The rebel characters speak Tagalog badly, when people in that area would actually speak a different language called Tausug. The bad guys come across as generic villains instead of believable people with real motivations. These problems with how the culture is shown feel especially wrong for a movie made in 2023.
Butler makes the whole movie work with his serious performance, treating even the most ridiculous moments like they're completely real. The dialogue became accidental comedy lines like "I can drive anything!" which became internet memes immediately. But when the violence happens, it feels brutal and impactful. The story wraps up in a satisfying way even though you have to ignore a lot of impossible things.
It delivers exactly what it promises - straightforward action entertainment without trying to be something deeper. In a time when superhero movies are overly complicated and franchises drag on forever, there's real pleasure in watching a film that just wants to be a fun ride. The colors look bland and some camera work is shaky during fight scenes, but the overall experience works well.
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