Passenger 57 (1992) - A Review

 

Passenger 57 is a really good action movie!

Passenger 57 is an American action movie that came out in 1992 and stars Wesley Snipes, Bruce Payne, Tom Sizemore, Alex Datcher, Elizabeth Hurley, and Ernie Lively. The movie was directed by Kevin Hooks.

In Passenger 57, Wesley Snipes plays John Cutter, a highly decorated former police officer, soldier, and Secret Service agent who now works as an airline security specialist. We first meet him during a training class, where a flight attendant 'goes off script' in a hostage scenario. Cutter is firm (some would say being a straight up jerk) with this flight attendant, Marti Slayton (played by Alex Datcher), about doing whatever the hostage taker asks, for the safety of everyone on board. Not a good first impression for either of them...

Cutter's friend, Sly Delvecchio (played by Tom Sizemore), offers him the position of vice president of a new anti-terrorism unit for his airline company. Cutter is reluctant, but he accepts the job. He takes a flight on the plane, as passenger 57, to officially accept the job. Also on this plane is Charles Rane (played by Bruce Payne), an international terrorist who earlier tried fleeing from the police in a daring escape, but got caught. He is handcuffed and flanked by two FBI agents. Ironically, Marti Slayton is a flight attendant on this plane, as well as a rookie flight attendant (played by Elizabeth Hurley).

Wesley Snipes as John Cutter is cool as ice. Snipes is the man in Passenger 57!

After the plane takes off, and Cutter and Marti have an awkward conversation, Rane makes his move (with the help of henchmen disguised as plane passengers and flight crew) to take the plane hostage. He even kills one of the pilots! As this is happening, Cutter is in the restroom on a phone call with Sly. Cutter tells Sly that the plane is hijacked and everyone onboard is taken hostage. Cutter also takes down one of the henchmen in the restroom area. Cutter goes to confront Rane, using the henchman as a shield. Rane takes a passenger hostage at gunpoint, and kills him in cold blood. Cutter escapes to the cargo hold with Marti, where he comes up with a plan to force the plane to land somewhere other than Rane's intended destination. To get through this, they must work together.

Passenger 57 is one of those movies I always heard of, but never watched. It wasn't until recently that I learned it had some martial arts fight scenes in it, and it became a movie I had to watch. This movie is good, I must say! It is good to hear that it was a hit when it released in 1992. The movie is fast-paced and never boring, as it is only 84 minutes long. Despite such a serious plot, there is some comedy in this as well.

Wesley Snipes plays John Cutter with confidence, and a bit of an edge. He is a bit gruff with others, especially with Marti the flight attendant. With his police and military background, that is to be expected, but there is an underlying reason that he is so hard on Marti at the beginning. He mentally and physically fights through this trauma in the movie. Wesley Snipes is also cool as heck in this movie. He is always under control, and is stylish while doing his thing. After watching this movie, I wonder why there couldn't have been more movies following the John Cutter character. There is so much they could've done with that character!

Charles Rane is evil personified. Bruce Payne does a great job!

Bruce Payne as Charles Rane is one of the most calculatingly evil villains ever put on film. Rane is smart (with a British accent, naturally), menacing, and cruel. Not only is he mentally capable, he is physically capable as well. Every time he appears on screen, you dread what he's going to do next (and you just want John Cutter to kick his butt). In one of his most evil scenes, he sexually assaults Marti. He is despicable through and through. There is nothing redeemable about Charles Rane (though I am sure there are Charles Rane cosplayers out there). Great performance by Bruce Payne in this movie.

It is always great to see Wesley Snipes in action!

There are a few fight scenes in this! His fight with the henchman in the restroom area is quick and to the point. The fight in the cargo area is pretty good, but the fight scenes are shot in the Hollywood way: A lot of cuts, a lot of unnecessary close ups, and weird angles. There's a lot of Wesley Snipes throwing punches and kicks towards the camera (literally facing the camera, we are seeing him from the point of view of the bad guys), and then you see the guy reacting to the hits. Sometimes all you see is Wesley Snipes' hand punch or block something. It was 1992 Hollywood, what are you going to do? (Though I must say, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies were out by this time, and they had good filmed fight scenes. I think Golden Harvest had a lot to do with that...) We do get to see Wesley Snipes throw some sweet kicks as well. I wonder what audiences thought back then seeing Wesley Snipes being a proficient martial artist for the first time. The final fight scene is a brawl, and when you think it's going to be like the airplane fight scene in Royal Warriors, it goes another way!

In conclusion, Passenger 57 is a good movie! It has good action, interesting characters, some humor, and a familiar plot done in an exciting way. Should you see this movie? I would say, yes! It's awesome to see Wesley Snipes get to strut his stuff before he became Blade. We need more big budget Wesley Snipes action movies!

Reviewed by David Williams