Plane - Amazon Exclusive 4K UHD SteelBook

As my colleague Bryan Kluger already reviewed this one, I’ll leave most of his words to stand pat. For my part, Plane was just a damn good fun action movie. Director Jean-François Richet and writers Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis understood what it takes to craft a straight-to-the-point action thriller and bring it to life. Keep the concept simple. Keep the characters to basic archetypes but with enough personality to ensure they're memorable. Keep the action contained and personal so the audience has someone to latch onto. The film isn’t out to redefine the genre but exists within the established parameters and delivers something exciting for us to enjoy for two hours. 

What I really enjoy about this film is the efficient setup. A simple lightning strike knocks out the aircraft’s electrics and it's forced to land on an unknown island. At this moment, we get to see how cool Gerard Butler’s Capt. Torrance is under pressure. He’s not panicking but he understands the gravity of the situation. When a solution presents itself he improvises. The solution just happened to drop them on an island controlled by pirates and separatists. They weren’t shot out of the sky, it wasn’t the apparent ”bad guy” on board played by Mike Coulter that brought the plane down. It was just bad luck leading to worse luck and our characters have to respond to the impossible. It’s just good efficient entertainment that’s smart enough to catch our attention but isn’t so clever that it jumps the shark with its concept. Now I don’t think this film is necessarily the springboard for a new transportation-based franchise that appears to be in the works for Mike Coulter’s French Foreign Legion character Gaspare, but as a one-and-done, it’s a fun film worth watching a few times. 

Here’s what Bryan had to say in his Plane 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review 

Jean-Francois Richet turned heads with his remake of John Carpenter's classic Assault on Precinct 13, which he followed that film up with the Mel Gibson vehicle Blood Father a few years later. Richet knows how to build suspense and action for sure, but it's almost non-stop in Plane as Gerard Butler Captains up as a pilot hilariously and appropriately named for an action film - Brodie Torrance, for a commercial airliner on New Year's Eve. There are only about a dozen people on his international flight along with an inmate named Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), who is being transported for his murder conviction some fifteen years earlier.

Richet builds this film as an action/survival film set in the sky where the first twenty minutes or so deliver some exquisitely suspenseful turbulent weather as the plane and its passengers brace for a crash landing. As the plane lands on a remote island, it's quick to reveal that the island is not friendly and that it's run by a murderous militia who are quick to kill anyone that doesn't belong on their island. Of course, there is more than meets the eye with both inmate Gaspare and Brodie Torrance, which is where the film switches gears into a buddy action film with highly violent sequences which include a 50 caliber sniper rifle, a sledgehammer, and machetes allowing both leads to save the day and protect the other passengers. 

This could easily be a run-of-the-mill action movie with no spark of life whatsoever, but Gerard Butler always comes through with sincerity and ferocity to each role as his protagonistic ways walk that line into the anti-hero territory. And he's pitch-perfect in this role. Mike Colter is just as great here as the mysterious inmate who might just need a sequel film just for his character. But what makes Plane rise above the rest are its little differences in how the film is told. For example, the first fight scene with Butler is filmed in one shot and lasts about 90 seconds! For this type of film, that is surprising as every slice and punch is felt with force. Butler's Torrance character doesn't always make the right move, but sometimes it has hilarious effects in a good way where Gaspare has to take him down a peg or two. 

Plane also has weight and stakes because it doesn't shy away from showcasing some of the more brutal and bloodier death scenes which will cause some cheers. And of course, as an homage to those epic '80s action movies, that main antagonist has a superior and wonderfully glorious end that even Schwarzenegger would appreciate. Plane doesn't try to be something it isn't. It knows exactly what it should be and it succeeds and delivers in a short amount of time rather than the normal two and a half hours some recent films would like to slog through. Butler and Colter are a fantastic duo and let's all hope they team up for another trip.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 

Plane takes flight for another 4K UHD release from Lionsgate, this time as a deluxe 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital SteelBook release. The same BD66 and BD50 discs return, but now the discs are drawn up to look all fancy-like. The SteelBook keeps with Lionsgate’s love for plastic slipcovers. The outer art keeps the look of the plane in the air during the storm. The case itself is more on-the-ground action once they get to the island. The discs still load to what is possibly one of the most entertaining main menu screens I’ve seen in a long time complete with basic navigation option.

Since the discs are the same, the video transfer is the same. It’s very good, not flawless given the digital photography and some of the more iffy CGI elements, but it still looks very good.

Likewise the same excellent Atmos track returns. The airplane landing through the storm sequence is some sonic gold; I love playing this moment nice and loud as the storm breaks through the sides and rears and the overhead shudders - then all hell breaks loose! The rest of the mix is great but it doesn’t quite hit the same highpoint.

For a modest global success as the Pandemic was easing and folks were earnestly returning to theaters, I’m rather surprised the bonus features are as thin as they are. I guess that’s what passes for average these days, but a Butler/Colter cast audio commentary could have been fun.

I don’t think Plane is going to be remembered among the greatest action films of any particular era, but credit where credit is due, it’s a damn fun movie. I see it living on in that realm of films that if you glance past it on your shelf or scroll past it on Netflix, you’re going to consider ending your movie search and watching it again. I happily caught it in theaters, I’ve watched it several more times at home, and I was more than happy to watch it again for this review. Will we ever see the sequel titled Ship? Maybe. Honestly, though, I hope we don’t, not every movie needs a sequel, and trying to keep the transportation theme going like that is just a silly stretch too far. Plane taxies onto the 4K runway again with the same solid A/V results; that hasn’t changed. What has changed is the exclusive SteelBook packaging which is another stylish turn from Lionsgate. But it’s not necessary to enjoy a good movie. If you already have the 4K disc, you’re all set. If you want to own it, this is an attractive way to go but the standard 4K disc is about $15 cheaper as of this writing. Regardless of packaging, consider the film, transfer, and audio Highly Recommended