Passenger 57 (1992)

Not bad, for the time it was released. I liked it, Snipes pre-Blade success.

Believe it or not but i have seen the trailers many times before as a kid but have never remembered to see the movie... until now. Wow! what a fun experience! The way the lines and action was timed, got a lot of laughs from me.This, ladies and Gentlemen is one of the examples of a bygone style of action movie making that is lost forever. They had an editing rhythm, a certain style of smart and funny lines, basically they were aiming to be as fun as the old Tom and Jerry cartoons. Everything felt real, there was no CGI plane, in fact there must have been just 5% of VFX work in this film. The build up to the action sprinkled many hilarious clues of what is to happen. There was a twist i did not see coming and that person had contact with knuckles at the end. The main Villain had some wonderfully fun lines to deliver. I haven't laughed at puns in years. This one got me by surprise. There was a scene where i had to pause with laughter when Snipes runs out of the control tower and karate kicks the life out of one officer. LOL. it was timed so well.If you haven't seen this Wesley Snipes movie then do it now! Its a tight action movie that is very fun to watch with beers and friends.A weird detail i noticed..Wesley Snipes was in the "Bad!" music video facing off against Micheal Jackson. Here.. his female lead looks like Micheal Jackson!Wesley Snipes..man...he is a popular actor for sure but had so much potential to be a superstar. Now he is back. Somebody give this guy a real movie.

The following review will contain some spoilers. Do not continue reading if you have not seen the film.As a huge 80s and 90s fan of the action genre, Passenger 57 is one of those smaller films that made a big impression on me as I was growing up. Going back after a couple years to watch it again, I can honestly say this film is still so much fun. With amazing one liners and a fantastic bad guy, this is an action movie hardcore genre fans must see. This is my review of Passenger 57.The film was written by Stewart Raffill, Dan Gordon, and David Lougherty. Raffill is widely known for directing the 1984 hit, The Philadelphia Experiment. Gordon actually was a pretty big writer having also written the Kevin Costner western, Wyatt Earp. Lougherty is still around to this day having recently wrote Lakeview Terrace in 2008 and Nurse 3D in 2013. The story for this film is very simple and follows the 80s/90s action genre to the letter. The story follows Charles Rane(played by Bruce Payne) who is a major terrorist that the FBI is tracking down. Having tracked him down at his plastic surgeon's office right before he is going to change his face once again they are able to force him out. This is where some crazy stuff happens as Rane literally jumps out of a very taller building, from fairly high up, with no damage at all. You have to love that stuff. The FBI later catches up to him while in foot pursuit and arrested him. Later in the film John Cutter(played by Wesley Snipes) is on his way to California for a new job opportunity. Little does he know at the time that Rane is also being transported on the same flight. If you are a genre fan you already know where this is going. While there is nothing award winning in this film, it is filled with great one liners and amazingly written characters for the type of film. Raffill, Gordon, and Lougherty deserve much credit for delivering a great script.The film was directed by Kevin Hooks. While Hooks mainly directed direct to video movies and now TV shows for most of his career, he has a couple movies like Passenger 57 under his belt. While the action scenes are nothing too explosive like other genre films, the heavier scenes look fantastic, never looking too zoomed in or moving too much with the camera. As I mentioned above the film has some hilarious moments like the moment when Rane jumps out of that building with no harm done at all, getting right up and continuing his attempt at running away from the FBI. I just love moments like that. Later in the film Cutter fights one of the bad guys on the plane with a gulf club. This stuff is too funny. There are also a couple very nice hand to hand combat fights that I really enjoyed. As for the acting, it is top notch for this type of film. With actors like Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne, you cannot go wrong. With secondary actors playing bad guys like Marc Macaulay and Michael Horse, this really sets the tone for a great action film. Even the great Tom Sizemore has a smaller role in this film with a great character name of Sly Delvecchio. That cheesiness fits this film so much. Overall, Hooks does a very good job of giving us one of the better 90s action films with fun characters and even better action. Hooks gets a big thumbs up in my book.The film was composed by Stanley Clarke who is known for his scores of films like The Transporter and Boyz n the Hood. I really love his score on Passenger 57. It has that amazing feel to it that many smaller action movies brought during the 80s and even 90s. While this film is much bigger into the 90s scene, there is a nice hint of 80s score to it as well. Clarke delivers a fantastic score for us fans to enjoy as we are watching this amazing film. Big thumps up.In closing, this is a must watch for fans who love action movies, who love cheesy action movies, and fans who love a good Wesley Snipes film. With a fantastic 90s score, and an amazing bad guy, this film will keep you very interested for the entire course of the film. The film is likely fairly cheap to buy on Blu-Ray as well as DVD these days, so getting a copy wouldn't be hard at all. Do not waste any time if you haven't seen this classic action film yet. It is a must see for sure.8/10

This movie is the absolute worst airplane movie I have ever seen! It's a mix between comedy, Miami Vice, Karate Kid, and black power all condensed into 80 minutes. They use Karate moves WAY too much in unnecessary situations, there is major discrimination towards Southerners and British, and the decisions made by the made character could have been thought up better by a preschooler. Seriously. The acting sucks, it is entirely cheesy and their punchlines sound like a self-centered fifth grader wrote this for his class play. I have no idea what the screenwriters were thinking when they filmed this. Just look at all the goofs for this movie and I can assure you this is longer than a low-budget 90's flunk. Do NOT watch this movie!!!