Passenger 57

If the only thing you're interested in when you watch an action movie is guns blazing and fight scenes, then this will satisfy. There's a lot of gunfighting in this one, and Wesley Snipes definitely proves that he knows something about the martial arts. His fight scenes are well done for the most part. In general, though, the movie repeatedly insists on descending into silliness, with a story that makes very little sense, even as actions movies go. Snipes plays John Cutter, a security expert who's just been hired to be chief of security for Atlantic International Airlines. He boards a flight for Los Angeles not knowing that the FBI is transporting a vicious terrorist on the same flight. The opening scenes involving terrorist Charles Rane (Bruce Payne) and his attempt to escape the FBI by fleeing a plastic surgeon's office, where he was apparently going to have his appearance changed, was pretty dramatic and established the nature of that character reasonably well. Unfortunately, the extended opening development of Cutter seemed unnecessary and overlong. The real problem here though (and where the movie lost all credibility with me), has to do with Rane's plan for hijacking the flight. Sly Delvecchio (Tom Sizemore) - who's one of the bigwigs with the airline - keeps complaining that the FBI didn't tell the airline that they'd use that flight to transport a dangerous criminal. But that makes sense to me. Why tip anybody off? So even the airline doesn't know that he's going to be on the plane. How, then, did Rane manage to get not just one but two of his people on board the plane - not as passengers but as crew? Either he got them hired by the airline specifically for this operation or he recruited two employees. Either way, they'd have to have known in advance that he was going to be on this particular flight and arranged to work this particular flight by bidding on it in advance, because these things are arranged by seniority. Sure, there could have been an FBI mole who tipped him off, but I doubt this decision was made weeks in advance in order to facilitate all these arrangements, and there's still the problem of getting the flight attendant and baggage handler scheduled to work this flight. A rather silly and overly convenient plot device, if you ask me. Once this is over, there's very little of note and nothing much you remember about it. It's an action flick among action flicks - but even sillier than most, and adding nothing original to the genre. However, I did enjoy Cutter's comment to Rane - "always bet on black!" 2/10

This film is very good and it has tons of action! Wesley Snipes is good as always and Bruce Payne performed as the ultimate villain! What a bad guy!His fellow colleagues are very convincing and I like Elizabeth Hurley in the film as part of his team!Tom Sizemore was good.The music was very good and it was very 80s like which was very cool!If you like terrorist films on air planes and like Wesley Snipes and especially Bruce Payne then see Passenger 57!

When it comes to a movie like this, there is always a saying that comes up in my mind: There are 13 in a dozen of this kind of movie. I don't know if it exists in English, but it means more or less that this is far from original, done so many times before and should be avoided at all time. The only reason that I watched Passenger 57 was because of Wesley Snipes. OK, he's perhaps not my favorite actor, but I quite like him. But I was very disappointed with the movie and his performance. I guess he just needed the money to pay some bills, because this movie really isn't worth much. It doesn't feel like they have payed much attention to the characters, the dialogs or even the plot. Charles Rane, a terrorist feared everywhere for his many hijackings and bombings, is being transported to jail by plane. Not with a special flight, but on a regular flight full of normal, innocent people, accompanied by two FBI agents. 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. But one passenger isn't just an ordinary man. It is John Cutter (Wesley Snipes), the very best when it comes to safety and anti-terrorism on airplanes. Of course he knows exactly what to do to make the bad guys' plans fail miserably. Even when you aren't looking for a movie with a lot of depth or an intelligent message you will be very disappointed after seeing this movie. The typecasting of the villains, the greyness of the other characters, the obvious ending... don't do this movie any good. I'm sure that even most of the fans of this kind of movies wouldn't like it. I give it a 4/10. A movie to forget and not to see ever again.

"Passenger 57" is essentially "Die Hard" on a plane, a simple idea that might have worked if it had not been for the fact that two years prior to this film, the sequel to "Die Hard" was, in fact, about an airport and planes. For the record, almost everything about "Passenger 57" is awry--the acting, the action, the pacing, the plotting.... Need I go on? The (bad/pathetic/weak) plot: John Cutter (Wesley Snipes) is an ex-cop trained in martial arts (or some form of punching and kicking) aboard flight 163 from somewhere to somewhere else. Mid-flight the plane is taken over by terrorists, led by Charles Rane (Bruce Payne), a man who has had some experience with Cutter in the past and who is pleased to see him onboard. By chance of crappy writing, John Cutter manages to escape from the terrorists and hide out on the plane--even though the terrorists know he is there. Even though there are little places to hide on a plane. Even though they're thousands of miles above land. Never mind that. Back on land, Sly Delvecchio (Tom Sizemore) helps keep balance in the force by agreeing with the terrorists' requests and stalling for time. When the plane lands to (fuel up/serve as a plot device, your pick), John Cutter is thrown from the plane and setup as a terrorist. However, once again he manages to escape from the grasp of confinement and he slips away on a motorcycle to a big fairground where Charles Rane and his cronies just, by matter of convenience, happen to be! If you think this movie sounds a lot like "Air Force One," you're right. If you think it sounds like "Die Hard," you'd be even more right. The only thing is, both those films had a level of high-voltage fun--"Passenger 57" has none. The pacing is slow and boring. The action, when it finally arrives, is weak and badly executed. Wesley Snipes essentially runs around a lot using karate moves on people. Puh-lease. There is basically no action whatsoever in "Passenger 57," and what little of it there is comes off as, quite frankly, rather boring. The "suspense" of the film isn't so suspenseful after a while (or, for that matter, from the very beginning). Being trapped on a plane throughout a film isn't exactly the most suspenseful thing possible, but at least "Air Force One" made up for it with plenty of outrageous action sequences. This movie has none. It basically goes like this: Cutter is trapped on plane. Terrorists take over plane. Cutter hides on plane and evades detection in small crevices. Cutter is thrown off of plane. Cutter is captured by police. Cutter escapes from police. Cutter fights terrorist. Guess what the outcome is. "Passenger 57" is as recycled as it gets. Granted, "Air Force One" hadn't been made by the time this film came out--but "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" had, and it was a heck of a lot better than this. The director of "Die Hard 2" was Renny Harlin, who no doubt could have turned "Passenger 57" into something at least slightly taunt, supsenseful or amusing. The director, Kevin Hooks, doesn't seem to know how to carry a film along at a reasonable pace while keeping audiences' interest. The writers of this movie, Dan Gordon and David Lougery, need a little lesson in how to craft a good action movie. Believability isn't always necessary in any form of entertainment. But you can't have entertainment without the entertainment value. That's just called garbage--a genre "Passenger 57" fits nicely into. Director: Kevin Hooks John Cutter: Wesley Snipes Charlies Rane: Bruce Payne Sly Delvecchio: Tom Sizemore Sabrina Ritchie: Elizabeth Hurley Written by David Lougery and Dan Gordon 1.5/5 stars. John Ulmer

Airline security expert John Cutter(Wesley Snipes)is on a routine flight when he must rescue hostages on board from a group of terrorists led by mad bomber Charles Rane(Bruce Payne). Rane is so cold-blooded, he asks a passenger if he had a family then proceeded to shoot him just to prove a point to Cutter that he meant business! Luckily, Cutter and flight attendant Marti Slayton(Alex Datcher)escape into the jumbo liner to release the fuel forcing Rane to land it at a rural landing strip near a fairgrounds while a carnival was taking place. Threatening to kill passengers if the sheriff doesn't refuel the plane, Cutter is able to escape, only to be momentarily arrested by police after being knocked out by the concrete from a harsh landing. Agreeing to release hostages if the fuel is brought to the plane, Sheriff Biggs(Ernie Lively)will carry out his demand. While a flood of passengers storm out of the plane, Rane attempts, along with a few of his henchmen, to flee, making their way to the fairgrounds, with Cutter, after escaping from the police subduing him, following in hot pursuit. With some hostages still on board and Rane on foot through a fairgrounds crowd of innocent people, Cutter has his hands full. A plan is in place and it's all about Rane escaping the electric chair. Boy, does this joker move fast! Like it's star, the movie barely catches a breath, with a locomotive pace. Not a lot of original plot here, to tell you the truth. It has the terrorism on a plane plot that, even by 1992, had rather worn out it's welcome, but with dynamic stars like Snipes and Payne, as the sneering heavy, they inject a little into it's stale material. Funny how the film moves into a plane, out of it temporarily, only to find both hero and villain returning for one last round. It is essentially your typical cat-and-mouse game between Cutter and Rane with precious, innocent lives at stake. As was typical in action films at this time, you have to take a leap of faith and accept what the script sets up regarding Snipes' abilities to take out the bad guys, and thwart the evil psycho's plans. This was during the time where Wesley Snipes was being groomed as the next action star. He is in solid form in this movie, looking mighty impressive in combat against Rane and his goons. Tom Sizemore has a sizable supporting turn as Sly Delvecchio, Cutter's boss and friend. Early role for a foxy Elizabeth Hurley as one of Rane's terrorists, disguised as a stewardess. Bruce Greenwood is Sizemore's boss, Stuart Ramsey, head of the airline for which they both work. Robert Hooks does what he can with a small role as Special Agent Henderson, with nice support from Lively as the "country bumpkin" Chief of Police who, as a hostage negotiator, gets a bit too big for his britches.

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.

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.

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 .

"Everyone in the room is dumber having seen it." -Almost a Billy Madison quote. This movie is dumber than dumb. Three hijackers "stroll away" unnoticed from the airplane? The FBI suddenly taking their orders from Wesley? Wesley runs around in a turtle neck, with a sweater on top, and a leather jacket... while all the people around him are wearing T-shirts!(see carnival scene) Stupid people, doing stupid things, to further the plot of a stupid movie. I could go on for days about the stupidity involved(plane fuselage crumbling while passengers "woot"). Instead, I will go work on my jetski... Liz looks great and earned the movie an extra point in my book.

People joke and call this film "Fly Hard"... if only it could live up to its namesake. Poorly acted, spottily directed and completely unfeasible... did you know that an airline has more hidden rooms and compartments than your typical haunted mansion? Furthermore, the terrorist villain is about as scary as my Aunt Gail. My advice: cancel this flight and leave the gate!