Rating: B
Dir: James Madigan
Star: Josh Hartnett, Charithra Chandran, Katee Sackhoff, Julian Kostov
Feeling like this year’s version of Nobody, it shares the same tongue-in-cheek approach to its hyperviolence, and both have a reluctant hero, dragged into and eventually responsible for much of the resulting mayhem. The protagonist here is Lucas Reyes (Hartnett), a disgraced ex-Secret Service agent now hiding out in Bangkok. He’s yanked back in by Katherine Brunt (Sackhoff), as the only person who can bring in notorious hacker, Ghost. They know Ghost will be on a flight to San Francisco. However, nobody is sure of Ghost’s identity. A lot of other people also know Ghost will be aboard the plane, resulting in a flight packed with killers, and the $10 million bounty will make for impressive in-flight entertainment.
For a first-time director, Madigan handles things with impressive assurance. He has a lot of experience elsewhere – second unit director on The Meg, for example. But there are a lot of moving parts here, and he juggles them effectively. The opening scene certainly grabs attention, a mass brawl, complete with a chainsaw, unfolding in the aisles of a plane to the tune of The Blue Danube. We then get the inevitable “12 hours earlier” caption, and see how we got to that point. I was mostly interested in seeing how they got the chainsaw. Checked baggage is the answer, though there are a lot of guns in carry-on bags. We’re going to have to go back to taking our shoes off, if the TSA see this.
Not that there’s probably much chance, since this may be the least in-flight friendly movie since Snakes on a Plane. Passengers get sucked out of the fuselage, stuffed in overhead lockers, and fail to stow their tray tables in the upright position. I knew what I was in for, when Hartnett sat down next to Marko Zorar (top). Although the Chilean martial artist is the first on the plane to die – not much of a spoiler – he is certainly not the last, and sets the standard for what is to follow, with a great bathroom brawl (albeit one larger than economy class!). Indeed, the supporting may be an improvement over Nobody, with a range of characters who are fun to watch kill or bicker with, each other.
Hartnett does all his own stunts, and like Bob Odenkirk, is a bit of a revelation in the action scenes. He has been that way inclined, with roles in things like Pearl Harbor and Sin City. But this is definitely another level, and impressive considering he’s nearer fifty than forty. Got to respect the obvious effort. The stuff outside the plane, involving Brunt and underling Aaron Hunter (Kostov), is a little less effective, despite Sackhoff going for it, with both barrels, as the Boss From Hell. The way it ends doesn’t so much hint towards a sequel as yell about it, and I’d certainly mind mind. It’s excessive, occasionally stupid, and more entertaining than most action films I’ve seen this year, including far larger ones.