There are so many movies that revolves around planes. Plane crash, disappearing planes, hi-jacked planes, haunted planes, planes carrying sick people, name it, the movie industry have it. But what if we add one more plane-focused movie? Is there a way we can actually make a story out of it without making it a little too obvious for the viewers? Well, this movie directed by Jean-François Richet, is actually giving us a different vibes. It’s a plane movie, yes, but not just your ordinary plane movie.

The story is about a flight, whose pilot was played by Gerard Butler. The flight Trailblazer 119, is set to fly from Singapore, transferring to Japan before its final destination which I believe will be in the US. Due to bad weather, the plane was strike by lighting and had to emergency landing in a remote island, which the pilot, Torrance, is not aware of. The island is actually an Island in Solo, Philippines which is actually an island that the Philippine government cannot even manage, because it is actually being controlled by militants, mainly ruled by a Datu (derived for ruler in ancient Tagalog). Trying to get help for the passengers, Captain Torrance, tried to get help along with Gaspare, a convicted that was transported to US, who was placed in the same flight.

They discovered that the place they landed on is a dangerous place (killing innocents and taking videos of the hostages) and they had to save the passengers, however, they were too late and the passengers whom they left are not hostages by the militants. As a promise to every passenger, Torrance needed to think of something that can help them save all the passengers with no more casualties. The US government, or the risk management controllers in the US, sent a rescue team, however, the rescue will arrive after 24 hours only which will be late for Torrance and the passengers because the militants are threatening to kill them one by one. Luckily, there were some US soldiers who came and saved them as they tried to escape. They managed to escaped the shoot out and even had a chance to escape the hell hole. Gerard’s character is actually an amazing pilot, saving all lives a s much as he can, as what he said, it’s the captain’s responsibility to make sure his passengers are safe and can go to their love ones home.

The escape was not easy, it was a very difficult task for all of them but thankfully, they managed to escaped of course there were other things involved while they escaped which I won’t spoil because this deserves a surprise.

I love how the movie just went from a pretty bad situation to something even worse, like they thought they have saved themselves but little did they know, they had to fight to live in the land more than they did while in the air. It was an intense encounter with the militants and the scene actually resembles whatever is really happening in the southern part of the Philippines. The movies isn’t only a movie, it was actually showing the reality that has been happening in Philippines, especially in the southern part. This has been a problem of the country for a very long time. There were even foreigners who were hostages and killed which were actually in the news before. Having to see that scene is actually making us see what the reality of war there is, not only in Philippines but also in other countries. The movie itself is an eye opener.

Kudos to those filipinos who were extras in the movie and also the Datu who has an accent and can barely speak tagalog. It was a bit comic but it worked. It didn’t ruined the moment of seriousness in the film. I also have some theories that weren’t actually answered, which I think will probably have a possibility of having a sequel or not? but the answer is actually vague. Like what happens to Gaspare? What happens to that thing he got from the rescuers? does it have something to do with the government, knowing in the film they have connections inside, and they were paid to rescue the flight 119. Those were just some of the questions that I wanted to know if they were actually left hanging because they are planning for a second movie.

All in all, I will give this a 92% wonderroanne rating.