Cabin Pressure (2001) (TV)

Director:

Alan Simmonds

Writers:

Kevin L. Beggs (story)
Tom Greene (story)

Release Date:

2 November 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

A hacker has seized control of the world's first automated jetliner. Can the passengers count on an ex-war hero to save them from disaster?

Plot:

A fully automated commercial jetliner is prepared to make its maiden voyage. Without an on-flight pilot...

Plot Keywords:

Computer | Female Pilot | Hijacking | Spider Bite | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Craig Sheffer	...	Peter 'Bird Dog' Dewmont
Rachel Hayward	...	Reece Robbins
Winston Rekert	...	Ty Corbett
Françoise Yip	...	Tammy
Michael Kopsa
Alexandria Mitchell	...	Blair
John Pyper-Ferguson	...	Gabriel Wingfield (as John Pyper Ferguson)
Jason Low	...	David Caulfield
Jane Sowerby	...	Mother
Nels Lennarson	...	Jimmy Dupre
Neil Schell	...	Don Parks
Caron Prins	...	TV Reporter
Dan Muldoon	...	Gustafson
George Gray	...	Cable Guy
Claire Riley	...	Doctor

Also Known As:

Hijack'd (USA) (video title)

MPAA:

Rated R for a scene of sexuality.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:12 | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | Australia:M | Germany:16 | Spain:13 (video premiere) | USA:R | UK:15 | Italy:T

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Lions Gate Films

Another Grade Z plane movie starring Craig Sheffer!

If I ever met Craig Sheffer, one of the first things I'd ask him would be why after the clichéd but admittedly hilarious mess that was Turbulence 2: Fear Of Flying did he go on to star in not one, but three other straight to video flicks with very similar scripts and similarly limp production values. Make no mistake, Fear Of Flying and Heavy Metal are both terrible movies but are so clichéd, cheap and poorly acted that they are hilarious to watch, and this is just as bad the others, which equals just as amusing.

Having saved the world from an anthrax bomb in Fear Of Flying, saved the world from being taken over by evil in Heavy Metal, big Craig now has the responsibility of stopping a hacker from control of the world's first automated jetliner is the! Yeah, as if! The plot itself is the source of major hilarity. The overall look of the movie has that whole Canadian B-movie feel. No stock footage is used this time around, instead we have a phony CGI plane which crashes with very cheap and unconvincing special effects.

But it's with the characters where it really gets amusing. First up is Sheffer's character, who is fired for saying he flies better when drunk. Like in Fear Of Flying, he's clearly phoning his performance and doesn't do much other than read his lines. It really makes me wonder why he decided to take the lead in four extremely similar B-movies. John Piper Ferguson appears to be in a different film, and appears to be enjoying every minute of his ridiculous character, which is a stereotypical "computer geek". He's dressed in drab clothes and sporting greasy hair and glasses, and his best friend is a rare Australian spider! The writers also seem confused as to whether this character is an evil psychopathic menace, or a pathetic character who we're supposed be sympathetic to. He befriends a little girl who lives in the same block, which appears to be an attempt to humanise the character. The way he handles the character itself is pretty hilarious. Not for one second taking it seriously, he jumps around the room and hams it up to the max. His character is great fun to watch but not exactly in the way I believe the filmmakers intended it to be. He's clearly just poking fun at the ridiculous character and seems bemused to have this on his CV.

The movie itself is also incredibly poorly pieced together. It feels like they made it as they went on, culminating in an ending so ridiculous that I can't even begin to describe it. I won't spoil it for you but I laughed a LOT when I saw what finally lead them to the "hacker". It involves the pet spider and an extremely lucky coincidental turn of events.

Overall, this is rubbish and only one member of the cast seems to be aware of that, but it's at least funny rubbish. As a thriller it fails abysmally but as a comedy, it's a great laugh. If you found Turbulence 2: Fear Of Flying, Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal or Flying Virus to be entertainingly bad, then I recommend you also see this.