Imagine having to take an emergency landing on a remote island after passing through extreme weather conditions, only to find out that your supposed sanctuary is controlled by a hostile armed group. Talk about being down on your luck!
But survival is possible with the quick-thinking Captain Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler) at the helm. In the 2023 survival thriller Plane, Torrance takes charge of a battered group of crash survivors, navigating one death-defying obstacle after another in a desperate bid for safety.
With only one last flight to complete before being home with his daughter in time for New Year’s Eve in Hawaii, Torrance thought it would be a smooth-sailing mission. But his routine journey from Singapore to Honolulu takes a sharp turn into disaster when a violent storm forces an emergency landing on a remote island in the Philippines.
Stranded and vulnerable, the survivors fall into the hands of dangerous rebels, and Torrance’s only ally is Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), a convicted murderer under FBI escort. The unlikely duo forms an alliance to outsmart their captors and save the remaining passengers.
Directed by Jean-François Richet, Plane delivers a thrilling, high-stakes action experience that keeps viewers’ adrenaline pumping. But beyond its heart-racing sequences, the film is also a story about resilience, redemption, and the lengths people will go to survive. Buckle up! With a 79% score from critics and a 94% rating from general audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, Plane is one thrill ride that won’t let you sit still.
It seems more and more viewers are catching Plane as it continues to soar in popularity. The film made its initial landing in the US on Starz in 2024, eventually reaching the #10 spot on streaming charts. The survival thriller even climbed to the No. 1 spot on Peacock’s Top 10 Movies chart in March. With a sequel in the works, fittingly titled Ship, fans have more action to look forward to. If you haven’t seen it yet, Plane is also set to stream in the Philippines on Lionsgate Play.
In an interview with MovieWeb, Gerard Butler talked about what drew him to working on Plane as an actor and as a producer: “When I read this script, I literally felt like an audience member, like I was white-knuckling it, going through this storm with these pilots, it felt very believable. You could follow what they were having to go through, but you could see the extreme peril that they were in, and that was the first act. Now, normally you have to wait till the end of the movie to get all that fun and that action. It can be a slow burn. We had all that in the first act, and then from there, it unfolds as a completely different movie.”
He adds: “Then, it’s a survival movie, it’s a drama, it’s a thriller. So it felt like it had all the elements. And it’s been a while since we’ve seen a really good movie where the plane is the central character because it’s a terrifying prospect. We all, as people, imagine what it must be like being in a plane when it goes down, and this doesn’t let you off the hook. It doesn’t happen in two minutes. You are stuck with them the whole way through this, and then they basically land in hell. And then it’s a whole other movie.”
Hit play, hold tight as Plane lands with explosive action on Lionsgate Play Philippines on April 25 via PLDT Home and Smart.
