Directed by Jean Francois Richet, “Plane” has all the qualities of a massy entertainer that keeps you on the edge of your seat without being unreasonable or illogical. Though Gerard Butler is convincing in the role of a pilot who knows how to be hopeful even in the most dire situations, Mike Colter, playing the character of a fugitive, comes as a surprise. So, let’s see what “Plane” has to offer and if our relentless pilot is able to save the day.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Plane’ Plot Summary: What Is The Film About?
Brodie Torrance was going to meet his daughter Daniela after a long time, and they had decided to spend New Year’s Eve together. Brodie worked as a pilot for Trailblazer Airlines, and before flying out of Singapore, he and his copilot, Samuel Dele, noticed that there was a possibility of a storm coming their way. They informed the staff, but they were told to take the same route and fly anyway because there were only 14 passengers, and they had to take the shortest route to save fuel costs. There was an unwanted passenger on the airplane, too, about whom Brodie was informed.
Louis Gaspare was a criminal who had been charged with homicide 15 years ago and was now being extradited to Toronto. Brodie felt uneasy in his presence, but he couldn’t do anything about it. The journey commenced, and before they knew it, they got hit by lightning, and the avionics stopped working. They tried establishing contact, but the radio was dead. Brodie realized that they had 10 minutes before they lost complete power and dropped down.
Brodie and Dele found out that they were somewhere near Manila, though their landing location still couldn’t be ascertained. Brodie knew that they would not be able to make it to Manila without any kind of navigation in such adverse conditions. Brodie realized that he would have to make a crash landing in the water itself but just then he saw a dense forest nearby, so he took the risk and flew the plane there. Brodie luckily saw a road, and somehow managed to land the plane there. There were only 2 casualties suffered: the police officer who was with Louis Gaspare and an air hostess named Isabella. Dele realized they were in Jolo island, in the southwest Philippines, and the nervousness on his face made it clear that it was not the kind of place anyone would want to be.
Jolo Island was run by separatists, militants, and criminals, and Dele knew that they were in even greater danger than before. Brodie knew that he would have to do something to let the authorities know their location, as without it, the chances of finding them were quite bleak. Brodie had noticed while landing that there was a facility somewhere nearby that probably had telephones and he wanted to take Gaspare with him because he didn’t feel comfortable leaving such a hardened criminal with the passengers.
Meanwhile, at the Trailblazers’ headquarters in New York, Terry, who was in charge of the proceedings, called David Scarsdale, who specialized in corporate strategy and crisis management. David, after analyzing the entire situation, came to the conclusion that Trailblazers would have to involve certain private assets, i.e., people who could reach there as the advance crew, before the proper rescue team arrived. David contacted John Shellback and his team and told them to do the needful.
Gaspare and Brodie left together, and the former was surprised by the kind of confidence and trust the latter had shown in him. Before they could even find anything, Gaspare took the opportunity and vanished into thin air. Brodie had expected that, but he was still hoping that in such dire circumstances, Gaspare would show some integrity and, at the very least, assist him in figuring out how to get off the island. Brodie went inside the facility, where he repaired a broken telephone and immediately called the Trailblazers’ office. The executive who picked up his phone didn’t believe him, as they had gotten a lot of crank calls since the morning. Brodie couldn’t believe it when she cut the call and told him that as long as he wouldn’t be able to tell his badge number, she wouldn’t be able to help him. Brodie called his daughter, Daniela, and asked her to jot down the details that he was giving but before he could finish, a soldier from the rebel group attacked him. Brodie managed to overpower him, but he felt traumatized after killing another human being. Just then, Gaspare came back to help him with arms and ammunition, and Brodie realized that maybe he had been a bit hasty in judging Gaspare’s intentions and character.
‘Plane’ Ending Explained: Was Brodie Able To Save The Passengers? Was His Escape Plan Successful?
Gaspare and Brodie were returning from the facility when they heard gunshots being fired near the place where the passengers were standing. The separatists had taken all the passengers into custody, and though Brodie wanted to intervene, Gaspare stopped him from doing so as he knew that they wouldn’t be able to help the cause. The separatists left behind their two men, who were snooping around the area to see if they could get something of value. Gaspare and Brodie attacked them and came to know that the passengers had been taken to a village called Dandulit and the leader of the separatist group was a man named Datu Junmar. Brodie left for Dandulit with Gaspare, but before going, he left a note on his shirt inside the cockpit in case anybody from the rescue team arrived when they were not there.
Gaspare and Brodie reached the heavily guarded area, and they found the warehouse where the passengers were being kept. They killed the guards and made their way to the bus on which they had been brought earlier. Gaspare told Brodie that even if he tried to distract Datu Junmar and his people, it wouldn’t be possible to take the entire bus out of that area. Brodie realized that they didn’t have a lot of options, and if they wanted to save the passengers, he would have to surrender. Brodie knew that the separatists would not kill him, as they would want to use him to create leverage and extort huge amounts of money from his government.
Gaspare couldn’t help but admire his courage and what he was willing to do to save people he didn’t even know. Brodie was a man of honor, and when the time came, he didn’t shy away from fulfilling his responsibilities. Brodie surrendered himself, and Datu Junmar and his men took him into their custody. Just as he was being taken inside, John Shellback arrived with his small attack unit and started firing at the separatists. They were able to rescue Brodie and take the passengers back to the place where the flight had landed. It was a near escape, and Shellback told Brodie that they needed to have some sort of plan of action because the full rescue force wouldn’t be arriving for another 24 hours. Brodie didn’t want to propose the plan that was brewing inside his head, but he realized that they didn’t have any other option. He told everybody that he would try flying the plane, as waiting for the rescue forces was not a possibility that they could entertain as they knew that the separatists were going to hit back with full force. Brodie started repairing the plane, and he saw multiple convoys of separatists coming their way. Brodie asked Shellback to hold them off as long as he could so that he could get some time to make the necessary repairs.
Gaspare had told Brodie that he wouldn’t be boarding the plane as he didn’t want to go to prison again. Brodie was fine with it, and he was grateful for the kind of help Gaspare had provided. He knew that if things had gone differently, he and Gaspare would have been great friends. Gaspare took the emergency money that Shellback had brought with him and escaped into the wild. Brodie started the engine, and Shellback and his team boarded just in time. There were bullets being fired from all directions, but Brodie took the leap of faith and successfully took off from the devastating Jolo island. Despite being low on fuel and losing one engine, Brodie was able to land Trailblazer 119 safely on Siasi Island.
The passengers breathed a sigh of relief, and they had nothing but immense respect for their captain. Brodie was thankful that he was still alive and could see his daughter. There was something very humbling about the entire incident, as nobody on that plane would ever have faced death so closely. We hope that it changed Brodie and made him realize that life is unpredictable and that one needs to live each moment as if it were the last.
