Written by Andy Mayson & directed by Claudio Fäh, “No Way Up” is a film that expects so much from its audience. Often, films expect you to suspect your disbelief to be fully immersed in its fictional world. “No Way Up” makes it even more challenging by constantly bringing ludicrous plot points that become increasingly difficult to believe in. On the surface, “No Way Up” is a survival horror-thriller about a group of plane travelers. But it happens after their plane suddenly malfunctions and crashes into an ocean, killing a majority of their passengers. Remember, you’re in for an absurd and unintentionally hilarious ride!
Spoilers Ahead
No Way Up (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Andy Mayson’s “No Way Up” follows a group of plane passengers who get stuck in a terrifying situation after the aircraft malfunctions and crashes into an ocean. The last survivors try to make it out of the plane as it starts to fill up with water. They face the threat of not only of the lack of oxygen but of the attack by deadly sharks that are prowling under the water.
What is ‘No Way Up’ about?
“No Way Up” follows a group of plane passengers as they try to survive a tragedy. We meet them before they board the plane. Jed (Jeremias Amoore) waits for his girlfriend, Ava (Sophie McIntosh), to arrive at the airport. His friend, Kyle (Will Attenborough), doesn’t think she will come because of her protective father, who is a well-known, influential politician. To his surprise, she does arrive but with Brandon (Colm Meaney), her bodyguard since she was a child. Jed gets upset seeing Brandon there because he wants to spend the vacation just with her. Ava says her father made Brandon tag along with her.
Kyle questions whether middle-aged Brandon can protect 20-something Ava. So, Brandon shows his skills of recognizing any sort of danger and shuts up Kyle. Besides them, 10-year-old Rosa (Grace Nettle) prepares to board the plane with her grandparents, Mardy (Phyllis Logan) and Hank (James Carroll Jordan). Rosa walks with her tiny teddy bear, which makes her feel protected. By mistake, she bumps into Ava and gets coffee spilled all over Ava’s stole. So, Ava gets angry at her. But she soon apologizes and returns the teddy that Rosa lost on the way.
The Malfunction
Before getting on the plane, Brandon asks Ava if she wants him not to join her. He understands that it will be awkward now that she is not a child. But Ava says she wants Brandon to be with her. So, Brandon agrees to join but to maintain his distance. Once they get on the plane, Kyle starts teasing Danilo (Manuel Pacific), an airport staff member, for doing the due diligence as a part of his work. So, Danillo spills beer over Kyle’s pants as a coy revenge. Soon after, the plane suffers some turbulence issues. The pilot reveals that it was because of a bird and they have cleared it. But the situation quickly worsens.
Rosa looks outside the window and notices fire all over the deteriorating jet engine. Moments later, the plane starts to break down. That makes it seem like the plane is made of thin sheets of paper! During this troubling situation, several passengers were blown out of the plane. Then, the plane crashes into the Pacific Ocean. Somehow, the only survivors are Danilo, Ava, Jed, Kyle, Brandon, Rosa, and Mardy. Looking at their present situation, Brandon deduces that they have only a few hours’ worth of oxygen left to breathe. So, he decides to wait it out until an escape team arrives. After all, Ava is the daughter of an important political figure. So, he would definitely send someone looking for her.
The Struggle for Survival
To delay any death, Brandon goes looking for a medical oxygen tank from a dead passenger. But while doing so, a shark attacks him. Brandon gives Ava the oxygen tank before getting killed by the shark. Then, other passengers live under the threat of the shark’s attack. Rosa says her teacher told her that bubbles scare sharks. So, the adults decide it is the best possible way to defeat a giant, deadly mammal. Around that time, two men start looking for Ava through a helicopter. They fly over the ocean and suspect Ava is stuck underneath. Therefore, they decide to send others to rescue her.
Behind them, in the helicopter, two men are already dressed in diving suits even before the pilot tells them about a possible rescue mission! Anyhow, soon after, the divers lose their lives to the shark. Every time a tragic event happens, Mardy recalls her time in the army fighting against Iraq to point out that things have been far worse for people in the past. She says this after a man loses half of his leg from a shark bite and will likely never recover from it! Eventually, Ned loses his life, and Ava mourns his death. People start losing their faith in a possible escape.
No Way Up (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
Can Ava escape the underwater plane?
Ava, Kyle, Danilo, Mardy, and Rosa decide to find a way out of the water by themselves. Since they saw the divers, they assumed someone was trying to help them escape. Once they are out of the plane, they are all on their own. Ava manages to swim out of the water. Right after she gets out, a helicopter arrives there to rescue her. It makes you wonder what it was doing until then. Since the scuba divers didn’t return to the shore, they could have sent another rescue team to protect the daughter of an influential politician. But that doesn’t seem to matter since she miraculously gets out alive. Outside, she sees that Rosa also made out alive.
The end shows the two female characters, who relied on other things or people for protection, saving their lives by themselves. But to prove this point, the film need not have taken some of the plainly absurd turns in its plot.
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