This fighter is listed by me as a classic of militants. One of the best fighters of the 90s. He launched Wesley Snipes' career as an action hero. Snipes has the most charismatic villain opponent played by Bruce Payne (unfortunately, this can be considered his most famous feature film, in other videos he also played villains, but they did not have such success). Maybe he is too demonic in the role, maybe he doesn’t look like a criminal, but he looks like a bad guy who is also sympathetic to the audience with his negative charisma. There is Tom Sizemore - a regular of Tarantino films, a copy of Michael Madsen and, in the episode Elizabeth Hurley, a famous British beauty, which I have never seen in any of the leading roles.
Kevin Hooks, the director, mostly made series before and after this film. But he also shot three glorious action films during his career. The first is Passenger 57, the second is Fugitives with Baldwin and Fishburne (he was a few weeks in a dozen box office films in the 90s). There was a program called Entertainment Now, which was translated on our local TV channels every week and covered the new products that were released in Hollywood and voiced the top 10 for the week, and the third was Black Dog, a car action movie starring Patrick Swayze. Well, he's proven himself. Someone calls the film secondary, but we, in the 90s, after the Russian action movie “Pulp Quartet” with one and a half fights for the film and the like with them, this film was a sample of action and boring narrative about the adventures of a former intelligence officer.
A funny script by Dan Gordon, who in the 90s wrote scripts for many action films and westerns and he can be called a specialist in action scripts (for a short period from the 90th to the 2000th years). The main character’s jokes are not annoying. The film gets off the plane and comes back.
The film is short and action does not stop for a minute. There is no reflection of the hero about undeveloped family life, about problems with wages. The backstory in which the bullies killed his wife fits into 3 minutes of screen time. This is the hero of the '90s. He goes to success, loses his job, but after being rescued from terrorists, they run to offer him a new position. He can punch any big shot or popular journalist who behaved wrongly and the audience will applaud. And he won't get anything for it. They were played by Bruce Willis, James Belushi, their adventures are often comic and the combination of action and comedy at that time is a trend. In this film, such a hero is Wesley Snipes, although his action character, combined with other films, is more tragic. Snipes demonstrates his hand-to-hand skills, without any slow-mo and effects, it looks energetic. Then it will bloom in the movie Blade 1. Here he was also a director of battles and did not hit his face in the mud. The film got into a wave of fashion for action movies and action in the 90s, so we still remember it along with Die Hard, Runaway Fire and Showdown in Little Tokyo.
Screen chip: Wesley Snipes reads the book “The Art of War” on the plane, in 2000 he will star in the successful action movie Christian Duguet with the same name, and later the second part, already less successful, will be released.
In the 90s, militants were very popular. The confrontation of good guys against bad with very simple plots has always liked me, even watching these films now the cinema of this genre continues to be very pleased.
This film has a great confrontation between a security officer and a ruthless terrorist, each of them has its own characteristics, each in its own way interesting. I've seen movies about hijacking people on a plane before. The tension is still inferior to the same Air Prison, but in general it looks good, exciting and spectacular.
Special dangerous criminal Charles Raine is extradited on a regular civilian flight, but he decided to take advantage of the situation and seize the plane, but the same flight is flying security officer John Cutter, who will not just sit and be silent, he intends to challenge a dangerous criminal.
I really liked that despite the simple plot of the villains in the film turned out to be very competent, cold-blooded with its characteristic features, his cruelty and ruthlessness is perfectly shown in the film. He did not become an ordinary extra and their confrontation with Cutter turned out to be spectacular and effective.
Action. The action in the film impressed me, the fights and shootouts were pretty cool. It was cool to see Wesley single-handedly trying to stop a ruthless terrorist. The scenes on the plane are memorable.
Wesley Snipes is very good as security officer John Cutter. Yes, of course, the fights he had in principle and always had a high level, but in addition to them I would highlight the humor in the film, Wesley was always very cheerful and was able to cheer up his jokes. And here he also humor may not be as usual, but meets. I liked his punchy character and, of course, the confrontation with Bruce Payne, it turned out spectacular.
Bruce Payne as the terrorist Charles Raine was convincing. He played very well, perfectly showed all the bad things in his character, added to the film intrigue despite the fact that this action movie has Wesley a serious rival. He has almost everything thought out, his people everywhere, and he is very good and not easy to beat. His coolness is at the highest level.
The decoration of this film was certainly Elizabeth Hurley extremely did not expect to see her in this image. At first, she is friendly and caring, but then the viewer learns about her true goals. Very pleased.
Tom Sizemore also pleased me in the role of Sly Delvecchio. At first it was funny to hear the word Sly. For me, Sly, as I think for many, is Sylvester Stallone, but then somehow got used to it during the film.
Passenger 57 is a great action movie from Kevin Hooks, which is made in the best traditions of the militants of the time, where you can enjoy an excellent action, excellent game by Wesley Snipes. Enjoy playing Bruce Payne, who made his antagonist so cool.
7 out of 10
Popular in the 90s, the topic of hostage-taking resulted in the mass of films. I have already described both parts of Siege with Steven Seagal, where in the first case terrorists took possession of a military vessel, and in the second they took a passenger train. Wesley Snipes, being very popular in the last decade of the twentieth century, with a difference of a couple of years, starred in two such projects: Passenger 57 and Disembarkation Zone (I will write about this film a little later). Well, in 1995, another aggressive action movie was released - "Money Train", all with the same Snipes and Woody Harelson in the lead roles.
Passenger 57 is a story about a terrorist attempt to free his boss, who U.S. marshals transport in a regular passenger airliner among a couple of hundred ordinary citizens. Naturally, this does not lead to anything good and a group of criminals takes control of the plane. That’s only there on board is an employee of the aviation security service John Cutter (Wesley Snipes), who does not like the bad behavior of the gangsters.
In fact, despite the seemingly simple plot, Passenger 57 attracts the viewer primarily manic persona of the main villain - the character of Bruce Payne. He played almost his namesake, Charles Rain. On the one hand, a pleasant appearance, but with expressively icy and cruel eyes, is combined with his soothing behavior, similar to a snake lurking before a throw. By the way, this role is probably one of the most famous for Payne, for the most part in major projects not removed. Passenger 57 was not a breakthrough for Elizabeth Hurley, for whom the role in this project was the first Hollywood. Charming brunette remembered a number of movies, but to the end to become his on the other side of the ocean (she is from Britain) could not. Snipes is also in Africa Snipes, as they say. For him, the 90s were more than successful and rich in major films: “Fan”, “Guardians of the Law”, “Destroyer”, “White Guys Cannot Jump”, “Blade”, “Bat on the Bone”.
As in the case of Siege 2, Passenger 57 is good in terms of storytelling, moving the action from the air (airplane salon) to the ground, because an hour and a half of wandering heroes in confined spaces is quite difficult to beat (although in the case of Liam Neeson and Air Marshal, it succeeded). Dynamics adds and the use of different vehicles - from the plane to the police motorcycle.
Passenger 57 is full of the romanticism inherent in films of the 80s and 90s, when a brutal hero. Having managed to save the charming girl, hugged her and at the end went into the sunset, thereby making it clear that the happy ending is not only the movie itself, but also their relationship. Plus, the musical series using the saxophone adds to everything that is happening the very romance that can be traced by the viewer for example in the franchise “Lethal Weapon”.
But look at you. I do not impose my opinion on anyone.
A particularly dangerous criminal, British terrorist Charles Raine, is being extradited on a routine civilian flight along with several dozen ordinary passengers. With the help of accomplices disguised as passengers and crew, Rhine got rid of the escorts and captured the plane with everyone on board. Fortunately, among the passengers is security officer John Cutter, who intends to do everything to ensure that the criminal got what he deserved.
The actors liked absolutely everything, Wesley Snipes is a cool hero, he can cope with a gang of terrorists and save a whole plane with people. Bruce Payne is a very charismatic character, with expressive frightening eyes, a bright and strong hero who, for all his ruthlessness and aggressiveness, is an intelligent very calculating person who has calculated the entire rescue plan, except for one - John Cutter. Elizabeth Hurley - honestly did not immediately recognize her, such a pretty and dangerous, ideal friend for Bruce Payne.
The plot of the film mainly takes place in the plane, the enclosed space is well played out, the action takes place in the cabin of the aircraft, in the kitchen, and even in the luggage compartment. The film is fast, interesting to watch, exciting. This is a classic action movie of the 90s, in which famous actors are gathered, a strong understandable plot is built, which looks in one breath. I highly recommend it.
Bruce Payne used to be very hairy. What a revelation!
As for the film: a classic example of a suitable American action movie of the 90s. A tough hero and cruel villains, who are carried one by one by the “coolest guy”, on the way saves a girlfriend. There are stupid supporting characters who boast of their importance and only interfere with the “good African American”. You can't add more or less.
Wesley Snipes (here is an airline security officer John Cutter) plays himself, because at that time he had not yet decided how to play in the movies, even in an action movie. Anyway, but he's doing quite well. However, the star of the picture is undoubtedly Bruce Payne, who played Charles Raine, both a charming and brutal criminal. And yes, he's hairy, and in other movies he's bald or bald. This actor plays wonderfully: it is strange that he is not very famous and popular. The main action of the tape takes place (as one might think from the name) in the plane. Well, filmmakers love airplanes - there is nothing you can do! Except that the idea wasn't so bad back then. Although, for the sake of justice, it is worth noting that in addition to the aircraft, there will be a pretty good shootout at the fair.
In general, as for the plot - it is very primitive, but it is suitable for such a genre. Fights are fun, shootings and chases too. The actors are generally well-chosen as well. Particularly noteworthy are the bandits-accomplices of the Rhine. These are not fifty fellows identical from the face, but only a few people in whom a certain individuality is felt. One is exuberant and unrestrained, the other is a stern ambal, the third looks like an ordinary nerd, besides there is even an angry flight attendant among them. Here we go.
What can be said in the end: as an action movie, the film is almost perfect, and on more "Passenger 57" and does not claim.
A familiar story about how a group of terrorists takes hostages in a confined space and sets their demands, not noticing that among the crowd of random people there is a specialist with whom it would be better not to mess with, acquires not the most interesting form in this standard action movie. The situation is not saved by Wesley Snipes, nor the shooting, nor the handsome Boeing. "Passenger 57" is familiar, stupid and in a considerable number of allegedly serious moments makes a ridiculous impression of the far-fetchedness and excessive heroism of the main good guy, who is fiercely eager to fight against all villains.
Of course, there is nothing new about getting the “best of the best” to fight criminals and keep citizens safe at the right place at the right time. John Cutter is on the same flight as a suicide bomber who would do anything to escape execution. He could not get on a plane without the support of his criminal associates, who must take control of the situation. It's guessed ahead. Villains in militants often use crowded places in a room isolated from the outside world. But Die Hard is a long way off. And the level of “In Siege” with Steven Seagal “Passenger 57” is also unattainable. In itself, the standardization of what is happening here is not a problem, if you rely on the high-quality implementation of old moves. But the film is not distinguished by either a tense rhythm, no intrigue in the plot, no memorable acting performance, nor even tough scenes with blood and snouting. All this is very strange, given the prerequisites for a good result. Again, what is worth only Snipes, who is both an interesting actor and a cool fighter. And Bruce Payne, like, decently plays the main villain, already distinguished by the explosion of four aircraft, which he is proud of. But a lifeless scenario kills everything. And you can only be content with another look at your favorite decisions.
While the action starts, you can learn a little about the main character, and immediately suspect a bad thing. In the past, he lost his wife - she died from a robber's bullet. This is explained by flashbacks, so it already spoils the impression with its short-sightedness. It was possible not to use the idea that Cutter had experienced the loss of a beloved woman in the past. First, everything is arranged in such a way that you want to blame Cutter himself for her death, because he is too much “hero”. And this is just the beginning, and it will get worse on the plane. And second, the romantic line between him and the flight attendant is only dragging out time, trying to make the film "more dramatic." Other methods to impress and make empathize with the main character, the writers, apparently, do not know. Here it becomes clear why it was necessary to start a “experienced drama” at all – so that the hero who destroyed the terrorists, of which it was impossible to doubt, found new love in a dangerous situation. Make it beautiful!
Well, when the “one against all” scheme begins, the main villain will demonstrate the seriousness of his intentions, and force Cutter to crawl around the corners of the plane, disrupting the criminal operation. Several times during the film, Wesley Snipes fights, sometimes even with the police, who mistaken him for a villain and gave the writers more grounds to "complicate" the situation - to bide time. The trouble is that there is no doubt about the outcome of the fights, and they themselves, although decent, but too short and look vegetarian. No memorable blows, no virtuoso operation with objects at hand, nor even decent cruelty. She'd be fine. Especially against the backdrop of the sad fact that the whole film is going on with a kind of cheerful mood. The excitement for the lives of two hundred hostages immediately fades into the background. And the authors even missed the opportunity to use the child’s existing characters. Children are usually another way to make terrorists more sinister and justice fighters more noble. But that's not happening. Probably, the writers themselves are blue enough templates in which they drown. I should've thought of that before. Maybe it would. Here, the invincible Wesley Snipes never even gets a decent bash from gangsters. He conquers everyone without difficulty and even with the appearance of having fun. The behavior of his character resembles a child who plays in the rescue of hostages, having seen cool fighters. No kidding. The logic of events not only fades into the background, but is easily questioned. Sometimes the heroism of a tough guy turns out to be so dangerous for the unfortunate passengers that I want to say: “I wish he hadn’t been on this flight, and the terrorists would have done their job and let the hostages go.” And the top of the disorder when watching are scenes where the bad guys shoot and can not get into the good, he should turn around, and with any turn to discharge into one scoundrel the whole clip. Like one bullet isn't enough to kill a man. But the standard is the standard. So there will be a run around the local fair, where the villains again turn out to be stupid, and shoot badly, getting into the locals, allowing the good Wesley to do them zero.
And now, disappointed at the sight of such a pale spectacle, you think about the name of the picture. There is no strong reference to “place number 57.” Perhaps, drowning in the templates, it was no longer possible to come up with a decent title for the film. Maybe it's not that bad. It's nice to see some interesting actors, thanks to the cameraman for taking off the plane beautifully. Well, Wesley Snipes here turns out to be a very funny guy, who, apparently, does not care about the issues of the lives of hostages. The main thing is to beautifully do template terrorists, avoiding bullets, knives and the influence of Earth's gravity, when it becomes not very tight.
5 out of 10
Passenger 57 - action movie 1992, directed by Kevin Hooks.
The picture has all the necessary qualities for the film of those times: plot, great actors, fight scenes, etc. Now for more details:
1) Plot
This story is about John Cutter, who happened to be dragged into the perfect escape plan of the famous and dangerous terrorist Charles Rein, who is waiting for prison for his sins. Now, John must be determined to save the hostages and himself. He will be drawn into a maelstrom of events and ultimately must confront Raine, who will kill everyone in his path to achieve his goal.
The plot is interesting and exciting. People who grew up in the paintings of this era or are simply fans of the militants of the 90s will see the characteristic features of that time, namely the peculiar fights, dialogue and staging, which some critics may call banal cliches, but I believe these films are the foundation for modern films. Especially some old action films that are classics of cinema can give a head start to some films that are being shot now.
(2) Play of actors
Wesley Snipes plays John Cutter, who is the universal savior for all passengers. He has a difficult fate, a difficult career path, but he still wants to help people. I really like Snipes as an actor. His fight scenes are very exciting and I like the fact that he tries on various images, from police officers to criminals, which he was in the film Destroyer. Wesley had problems with the law and I expect from him in the future interesting and exciting pictures, especially since there is information that he will play in Expendables 3, which has gathered a lot of great actors.
Bruce Payne plays the world-class terrorist Charles Raine, who has fallen into another adventure and again wanted to seize the plane. He is evil, merciless and inadequate. I was very surprised that Rain never worried during the film and was quiet and confident. Many doctors call such people “crazy” and they are much more dangerous than crazy people who are more emotional and constantly try to show their anger. Rain himself does not consider himself a psycho, and he calls his actions a genius and himself, accordingly, a genius. This is sad, because in a person there are no standard nested values of life and it turns out that in murder and terror he sees the good in its pure form. Payne played brilliantly and you could not look at his actions - only his eyes were scary and threatening. We can safely say that the villain for the militant was completely successful.
I would also like to mention such actors as Tom Sizemore, Bruce Greenwood and
Elizabeth Hurley, which I did not immediately recognize.
(3) General impressions
The movie turned out great. I really like the subject of hostage-taking in the movies, because there is heat in them and everything depends on every action of any character. The performance and performance of the actors were on top. For those who want to see something from the same series, I recommend watching the film "Air Prison", which has long been in my collection. In general, this film is completely suitable for evening viewing and left only positive emotions.
I am convinced that the fighters of the 90s are the best. Yes, often having quite simple synopses and little different from each other content, filmmakers created one hit after another, which are happy to watch to this day. What can not be said about modern fighters, which are sometimes even once difficult to see. What can we say about the fact that the revision turns into a real torture. Here and this tape can be distinguished as the brightest representative of that time. In general, it is strange that after such a popular film Kevin Hooks did not linger in large budget projects and smoothly moved into the habitat of various series. That's where he got to his fullest. Never mind. It is only important that Kevin Hooks shot a fairly exemplary and classic old cheeky action movie from the 90s. Where necessarily the whole film is stuffed with various shootings, chases, destruction, explosions and fights, which look one more beautiful than the other and damn exciting.
Especially hand-to-hand combat performed by Wesley Snipes, who not only played the learned movements, but fought in fact given his considerable knowledge in the development of oriental martial arts. And in the aggregate, the film looks quite easy, pleasant and exciting. Whether it is direct action scene, or numerous blah, blah, blah, without which perhaps no film can do. In some places, of course, it is noticeable that the film turned out in the spirit of such action films as “Ordered to Destroy” and “Die Hard”. But here even the matter is not in the imitation of the spectacle itself, but rather following the templates of the genre. Moreover, I am once again convinced that even such enclosed spaces of the aircraft are not ways to infringe on the entire entertainment of the project. Especially when the film itself does not dream of a tense, dynamic and rather sharp mood.
I think it never makes sense to demand a strong script from any blockbuster or action movie. Only Christopher Nolan bothers to create a really smart script. When, as in numerous action films, the plot is either repeated or inserted solely for ticks. Here you can see both the first case and the second. It’s good to know that the creators have played in a positive way. The very concept of the plot is similar to “Die Hard” by John McTiernan.
So it's not surprising that when I was a kid, VHS tapes on this tape were labeled "Black Nut in the Air." Stupid, but ironic and perhaps even true. The plot itself, although repeated to some extent in a huge number of different films, but looks easy, pleasant, not forced and with great interest. Especially considering the fact that the final picture is known from the very beginning.
We can safely say that the film is so good solely because of Wesley Snipes, who is as frankly sorry as Jean Claude Van Dame and Steven Seagal. At one time, they were wildly popular actors and action heroes who starred only in large-budget projects. But over time they smoothly moved to films category B, and even C. Snipes so ended his career in prison, where he is now. Nevertheless, this role is one of the best in his career and at a time when he was still at the top. Hence, it is not surprising that he plays the whole film with great dignity, shines with incredible charisma and adequately plays all the fighting scenes with his participation.
The main villain performed by Bruce Payne turned out to be simply magnificent and damn impressive. Cinema has not seen so cold-blooded and devoid of any emotions throughout the film. Tom Sizemore is fantastic. The actor is insanely talented and he managed to pull out perhaps even a rather secondary and not seriously comic role. Alex Datcher played weakly, but within reasonable limits of his heroine, which should only please the eyes and make others envy the main character because of her. Bruce Greenwood played not bad. Although he was in the picture a hell of a lot. Elizabeth Hurley lousy. It's not surprising, though. I found her here with great difficulty.
The music of the composer of the film Stanley Clark turned out in the best traditions of “Die Hard” by Michael Kamen. Dynamic, sharp, tense and sometimes chaotic performance of orchestral instruments, which creates more intense discomfort than even visual demonstrations of murders on the screen.
7 out of 10
Quite spectacular, dynamic, light and exemplary classic action movie from the 90s. The film is not perfect, but definitely worth watching. I recommend it.