Passenger 57

"Passenger 57" is one of the many films that followed in the wake of the action film that re invented the genre, 1988's "Die Hard" with Bruce Willis in the lead. When I first saw P57, rented on video in the mid nineties, I wasn't expecting a re-run of Die Hard, but i was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable an action flick it was.

Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne spark well off each other as the troubled hero and psychotic villain. They are given competent support by the rest of the cast, although one of my small complaints is how under utilised the other actors are. That said, Ernie Lively does a nice turn as the local police chief and Robert Hooks (father of director Kevin Hooks) is good as an FBI Agent.

Essentially, Passenger 57 is a solid little action movie which is well paced and has enough intriguing characters and good action scenes to keep you interested right through to the finale. The story is perhaps a little thin and the script could have used a bit more depth to develop the characters, but it's very enjoyable none the less.

Don't view this expecting a great movie, but if you have an hour and a half to kill this film is well worth a watch.

The tag; "Die Hard" on a plane is pretty much true when describing this uninspired Wesley Snipes action vehicle of the early nineties. A captive terrorist being transported on an aircraft by the FBI is violently freed by his associates and they take the plane hostage. However on board happens to be an airline security specialist who goes about making their life's hell. Durable direction along with Mark Irwin's crisp photography and exhilarating stunt-work (the opening chase sequence). While it might be systematic in its execution (exciting combat where characters get caught, escape, get caught and escape again), but a confident Snipes makes light work of the slight and clichéd material (where we get the usual character/s with a brooding past) to deliver cracking blows taking out the terrorists one-by-one and sharp-one liners ("Always bet on black"). Around this time Snipes had become somewhat of a household name and a Hollywood banker with movie fans. Churning out films like "White Men Can't Jump", "Boiling Point", "Rising Sun", "Demolition Man" and "Drop Zone". This entry might not make much of the dent in Snipes' portfolio, but for the undemanding just wanting some simple action moving at a brisk pace with some venomously psychotic villain performances (led by the exceptional Bruce Payne and an early part for Elizabeth Hurley) and fine support (Tom Sizemore and Ernie Lively). You can't go wrong with the consistently entertaining "Passenger 57".

"I never live in the past"

An incredibly brief, uninvolving and dumb thriller, Passenger 57 is a film that Wesley Snipes probably doesn't rank too highly on his CV. Though it is fast-paced and action-packed, it just doesn't give the audience the pay-off they need. The whole thing seems to have been made in great haste, with precious little attention to character, dialogue and plot. If Die Hard was the sumptuous five-course meal of action movies, then Passenger 57 is the half-eaten, under-cooked bacon sandwich.

The (somewhat unbelievable) plot has world-feared terrorist Charles Rane (Bruce Payne) being transported by plane to jail. Someone in the corridors of power has rather foolishly allowed him to be transported aboard a regular passenger aircraft, full of normal, innocent members of society. Inevitably, Rane escapes with the help of some of his accomplices, and within minutes he has control of the plane and the life of every passenger aboard. He plans to trade the safety of the passengers for his freedom. The one thing he doesn't reckon on is the presence of Passenger 57, maverick sky marshal John Cutter (Wesley Snipes), who knows a trick or two when it comes to dishing out pain to the bad guys.

You know just from the plot synopsis that Passenger 57 is riddled with unlikely plot holes. But even if you forgive its silliness, it isn't very entertaining on the level of "dumb fun". Payne as the villain is as camp as Christmas; hero Snipes plays it with utter indifference; the plot rattles along with no rhyme or reason making it awfully hard to care about any of the protagonists; and the climax is such a rushed muddle of a sequence that it comes over more as an anticlimax than anything. It's easy to knock action movies, especially if you prefer something with a bit of depth and believability, but even champions of the "big, cheesy action flick" are likely to come away from Passenger 57 feeling disappointed.

John Cutter (Wesley Snipes) is an expert security agent who's still mourning the death his wife . He embarks a large plane , L1011-500 "Tristar , assisted by beautiful air hostesses (two gorgeous flight attendants : Alex Datcher and Elizabeth Hurley , one of the earliest film roles). Then , he finds himself accidentally trapped into the middle of an airline Jumbo hijacking executed by an arch-villain terrorist (Bruce Payne) who previously committed numerous terrorists acts . He hijacks the crew and seizes control of it . Cutter must take action confronting the nasty criminal , developing a battle of wits between two charismatic opponents . Meanwhile , Cutter contacts with his airline chiefs (Tom Sizemore and Bruce Greenwood) who want to hide the events .

The film packs nonstop action , suspense , tension , lots of violence when the murders and fighting happen , being quite entertaining . It's a run-of-the-mill action film in which from the beginning to the ending the thriller and emotion is continuous . This film Passenger 57 (1992) was scheduled to air on a Starz Entertainment Group channel the night of 9/11 , what with the themes of terrorism on an airplane, the broadcast was obviously cancelled . Wesley Snipes is top-notch as an action hero , turning into tough action man in films of big budget , just like ¨Murder at 1600¨ , ¨Money train¨ , ¨US Marshall¨ and ¨Blade¨ trilogy ; however , nowadays , he only makes low/medium budget films as ¨Unstoppable¨ , ¨The detonator¨, ¨7 seconds¨ , ¨Chaos¨, ¨The marksman¨ , among others . While on the plane Wesley Snipes reads the book 'The Art of War' ; Snipes later starred in the film ¨The art of war¨ (2000) that was loosely based on the book . Bruce Payne is excellent as the ruthless and extremely intelligent villainous , he plays -as always- magnificently a megalomaniac nasty .

Spectacular musical score by Stanley Clarke , being appropriately adjusted to action . The motion picture was well directed by Kevin Hooks -an usual TV movies director- . Robert Hooks, who plays FBI agent Dwight Henderson in the film , is the father of director Kevin Hooks . The film will appeal to action genre enthusiasts . It's a must see for Wesley Snipes fans .

Wesley Snipes is about the only thing that's good in this movie. The movie starts out good with interesting situation going on inside the plane. Then the setting moves to the ground, and we see local law enforcement agency and the FBI getting involved, things gets dumb and dumber.

Why they had to abandon the airplane and go into the boring ground scene, I have no idea. They lost all the plot right there and then. The guy who escaped was absolute nobody, so it wasn't interesting even if he did escape. Movie gets worse as it progresses as even the fight scene including Wesley Snipes gets worse.

The stunt at the end was ridiculous. How can a police car catch up with a jet plane that's about to reach take off velocity ?

The fault was with the writer. The movie could have been 100% better if Wesley Snipes was allowed to sleuth around the airplane inflicting damages to the bad guys. Then it would have been a budget version of Die-hard, or maybe better, and the movie surely would have been a classic with sequels.

Too bad that they blew their opportunity, because of poor script writing.