Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler), is a recently widowed dad who looks forward to completing his nearly empty run from Singapore to Tokyo so he can take advantage of the time difference and meet up with his daughter in Hawaii in time to celebrate the new year.

In the new film “Plane” things do not go as planned as the nearly empty the flight also hosts a prisoner transfer as a dangerous fugitive named Louis (Mike Colter), is brought onto the flight late.

Forced by a corporate officer to fly through a storm they were told would be clear by the time they reached it to save time and fuel, the flight encounters severe issues and soon find themselves without avionics and forced to make an emergency landing on an island.

Unable to send for help and unsure of their exact location, Brodie learns that they are on an outer island of the Philippines and that there is only insurrectionists and militia on the island and that the military or police are not options.

While attempting to find a way to contact help, Brodie enlists Louis to help and soon finds that the passengers and crew have been taking hostage by a brutal local militia. Forced to improvise rescue and wait for help, the tense and violent situation quickly becomes a living nightmare as they fight to survive.

The tension level of the film is great as the early segments in the plane did a great job of showing the routine of a pilot and also ramped up the tension. I can be a nervous passenger when a plane gets into bad weather and I found my palms getting sweaty and anxiety creeping in during the detailed sequences of the flight in peril.

The action of the film was engaging as were the characters as they were easy to pull for despite not having much in the way of backstory or character development. The film has plenty of action as was engaging from start to finish which makes “Plane” a pleasant diversion and one fan of Butler will not want to miss.

4 stars out of 5