Directed by Jean-François Richet and written by Charles Cumming and J. P. Davis, Plane (2023) is an action thriller starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter. The film centers around a commercial pilot for a major airline service who saves his passengers after the plane gets hit by a lightning storm, only to get stranded on a hostile island full of criminals.
The Gerard Butler starrer is a simple film with no additional stunt work or an over-the-top storyline to make things more dramatic than they already are. The film begins with an interesting plot and keeps the audience engaged without making it look like its trying too much. The film also has an old-school action/survival thriller vibe that makes the story engaging because something is constantly happening. The runtime flies by as the characters work in their survival mode, regaling you with their tactics.
Plane (2023) is a definite one-time watch for action movie fans as it delivers exactly what Butler promises to do in the film. If you want something thrilling to watch, grab a bucket of popcorn and enjoy the film.
In the following article, I have detailed everything major that happens in the film with an added dive into the explanation of how it all ends. Spoiler Alert, please read at your discretion.
Plane (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Plane (2023) begins with Brodie Torrance, late for his flight, talking to his daughter, who is excited to meet her father on New Year’s Eve. Brodie is a pilot and works for Trailblazer Airlines. Once stationed inside the flight that will fly out of Singapore, he and his copilot, Samuel Dele, are informed that they would need to push their flight through a possible storm. When Brodie mentions that it will be challenging, he is asked to stick to the same route since only 14 passengers are boarding the flight. This decision to take the shorter route would save the airline additional fuel costs.
The fourteen passengers include a convicted murderer- Louis Gaspare, charged with homicide (15 years ago), and Brodie has no choice but to allow the passenger onboard. After onboarding all the passengers and safety instructions announced, the flight’s crew commences their journey. However, soon the flight is hit by lightning, and the avionics stops working. After trying to patch through the contact to the aviation support, Brodie and Dele realize their radio and all comms are dead. They only have 10 minutes before they lose the system’s full power and drop down from 40000 ft.
Trusting his instinct, Brodie and Dele discover they are somewhere near Manila; however, they still need to find a landing area. Brodie also knows they will make it to Manila in time with the help of navigation in the situation. So he would need to crash land the flight on the water and asks his principal steward to make the announcement that he never thought would have to in his life.
However, he sees a dense forest and takes the risk of flying the plane based on wind speed. Brodie sees a road and manages to land the plane there. A police officer accompanying Gaspare and an air hostess named Isabella lose their life during the landing when the former gets up to pick up his phone, and the air hostess gets up to put him back in his seat.
Dele soon realizes they are on Jolo island, situated in the southwest Philippines. The Island is notoriously known as a habitat for extremists and criminals who trouble people for their benefit.
On the other hand, Terry, in charge of the Trailblazer headquarters back in New York, calls in David Scarsdale, an expert in crisis management. David analyzes everything and tells Terry that he would need to reach out to different people in a higher position for personal favors, as this case would require the upper hands for better negotiations. A private advance crew is also hired to rescue the people, and David calls Shellback, who gathers his team to do the needful.
Brodie allows Gaspare to team with him to find help to keep him away from his other passengers. While trying to figure out a way out of the island, suddenly Brodie finds Gaspare missing from his sight. Thinking that the convict ran away, he finds a radio station hoping to connect with someone back home. Soon he finds an abandoned facility and a broken radio phone. He quickly fixes it and dials the customer care number of Trailblazer Airlines.
However, he gets dismissed by the operator as they have received many crank calls since morning regarding the same. Desperate to find someone to help him, he finally dials his daughter’s number. When the call gets through, without wasting any second, he instructs her to connect with someone at the headquarters to send help. However, a rookie militant attacks him, and the call gets disconnected. When the militant tries to choke Brodie, Gaspare intervenes and shoots him. They slowly gain one another’s trust when Gaspare saves Brodie.
At the same time, while Brodie is away looking for a radio/phone to connect with the Trailblazers rescue team, Dele tries to figure out the batteries of the fried avionics. Meanwhile, a local person from the island sees the passengers and informs the leader – Datu Junmar, about their position. Junmar sends his men to bring all the passengers as a hostage. When Gaspare and Brodie return from the facility, they hear gunshots. Brodie tries to run toward them, but Gaspare stops him saying he will also get killed if he goes after them. They would need to think straight and find a strategic plan. The extremists then take all the passengers into custody, leaving behind the dead bodies of a couple that tried to outrun them.
When the militants take away everyone on a bus, Brodie and Gaspare attack a local man who looks around the passenger’s belonging, they also learn that Junmar has taken all the people to a village called Dandulit; from there, they would be taken away to the sea.
Brodie decides to go after them, leaving behind a note on his uniform shirt so that the rescue team can understand where all of them are.
Gaspare and Brodie arrive at the village area full of armed men guarding the place. They soon find the warehouse where all the passengers are kept hostages. While Brodie keeps an eye out for other men, Gaspare kills the man guarding the cell. Brodie opens the gate, rescues all his remaining passengers, and takes them to the bus. One of the passengers knows how to ride the bus, so Brodie tells Gaspare to look after all of them as he is giving himself to Datu Junmar so as to distract him from catching the bus and getting away as he knows that the leader won’t kill as he would be more beneficial to them in extorting money from the government. So he goes out to the militants and asks Junmar to come and meet him.
As the captain of the plane, Brodie was doing his best to protect his passengers in every way possible. He surrenders himself to Junmar as his men beat him to face their leader. Just when Junmar is taking him, one of the militants gets shot by Shellback, who rescues Brodie in the nick of time. Shellback takes Brodie to the bus and tells him that the rescue team can only make it to the island in 24 hours. Since they are now on their own, Brodie must devise a strategic plan.
He realizes they neither have a plan nor the time, so Brodie decides to go to the place where he landed the plane. Once they get to the location, Brodie goes to the plane and sees that Dele has repaired the fried avionics. It gives him hope, and he starts repairing the power brakes. In the meantime, he also asks Shellback and Gaspare to buy him time from the armed forces who were after them to kill. Gaspare tells Brodie that he won’t board the plane as he doesn’t want to get convicted and that the people don’t know the entire story.
Plane (2023) Movie Ending, Explained:
What does Brodie do to get everyone out of the dangerous island?
After thanking Gaspare for all his help in getting the passengers safely back to the plane, Brodie gets inside the aircraft along with Dele and tries to take off. When they are about to turn the plane, Junmar and his men reach the spot with lots of artilleries and strike with full force. Shellback and Gaspare ensure that the plane safely makes its turn towards the runway (a dirt road in the middle of the dense forest) without getting the engines or the fuel tank getting shot.
Meanwhile, Gaspare steals the emergency fund while refiling his gun. Shellback sharply looks at him but doesn’t say anything and boards the flight just in time. There is gunfire all around, and a passenger gets hit on the leg. Taking a leap of faith, Brodie successfully takes off from Jolo island; however, the plane is low on fuel and loses one of the engines.
Dele and Brodie also get their comms back on and get connected to the headquarters, where Terry is not pleased with the pilot’s blind decision. However, David believes in Brodie and asks him to follow his instincts.
A navigation expert is called in who helps the pilot to navigate the aircraft for an emergency landing at the nearest place. Despite the adversities, Brodie lands Trailblazer 119 safely at the nearest airport on Siasi Island. Everyone congratulates him for saving their life as he sits back and tries to reminisce about everything that happened on the dangerous island.
Soon the medical team and the rescue team arrive and tend to everyone. Brodie calls his daughter and tells him he will make it to new year’s eve to meet her. The film ends at that point showing life is full of unpredictable moments and that one should live minute by minute to the fullest.
Read: How to Watch the New Action Thriller Movie ‘Plane’ starring Gerard Butler?
Trailer
Plane (2023) Movie Links – IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes
Plane (2023) Movie Cast – Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Tony Goldwyn, Yoson An, Evan Dane Taylor
Where to watch Plane
