We discuss 10 movies like the 2023 movie Plane you must watch. Add these well-recommended films to your watch list and enjoy.
The film Plane, released on January 13th of 2023, was a minor hit for rugged Scottish gladiator slayer Gerard Butler, in what could easily be described as a throwback to an earlier age of film, with an unlikely hero protagonist, thrown into a dangerous, life-threatening set of circumstances, doing his best to save the day.
Whether or not it was the intention, this movie made us think of some other classic thrillers that deal with heroes against the odds trying to save the rest of the cast and, of course, planes. So with that in mind, here are ten similar movies like Plane you must watch.
10 Movies like Plane you must watch
Flight (2012)
The masterful ultra cool beyond belief Denzel Washington leads a cast including John Goodman and Don Cheadle in this taught airborne thriller directed by Robert Zemeckis. A malfunctioning plane on a mundane journey from Orlando to Atlanta forces pilot Whip Whitaker to use his skills to save the passengers. Still, when he awakens in the hospital, it seems he is in the frame for the incidents that have taken place. With pitch-perfect performances and tight direction, this plane-based masterpiece had to be on our list.
Red Eye (2005)
Directed by Wes Craven, in a departure from his usual fare, this plane-based psychological thriller stars icy-eyed frost king Cillian Murphy and Rachael McAdams in a plane based movie that will make you think twice about making new friends on an air trip. A terrorized passenger becomes a pawn of a meticulous killer in a conspiracy to assassinate a U.S. Senator. The film’s tone resembles the first act of our featured film, so it is getting a mention here in our list of similar movies to Plane.
Con Air (1997)
Self-deprecating, slightly faded Hollywood maniac Nicholas Cage made a mark in this high-octane plane-based movie that still has one of the best final acts in action movie history. Cage plays a wrongfully convicted killer on the prison transport plane that finds itself under the control of the other prisoners trying to make a bid for freedom. The adrenaline ride makes this one of the best movies like Plane that we could find.
Ground Control (1998)
So here’s one on the list that you might not have heard of, and who knows, you might want to check it out.
Once again, this has an almost all-star ensemble cast, including young Donald Sutherland vampire spy Kiefer Sutherland, Margaret Cho, Bruce McGill, Robert Sean Leonard, Henry Winkler, and Ruben Paul. Sutherland is a disgraced air traffic controller who gets the call to return to work when everything hits the fan. Can he gain the confidence of his co-workers and save a plane that looks set to become another disaster? Not telling you, but it’s on our list of movies like Plane, so give it a look.
7500 (2019)
Another one that might have flown under your radar, yes, that was intentional, is a real pulse raiser from German director Patrick Vollrath, who imbues the whole movie with an almost documentary-like style. Starring everyone’s favorite Jiminy Cricket, Joseph-Gordon-Levitt, this nail-biter has a plane en route from Berlin to Paris being attacked by hijackers that try to storm the c**k pit. The stakes begin to rise, and the tension mounts Levitt trained to become a pilot in preparation for the role. The code number “7500” is used in the event of a hijacking; keep your ears open just in case.
Battle Royale (2000)
So you might be wondering about this one, but stay with me here. In Plane, the crew and passengers find themselves crash landing and falling fowl of the rebellious criminal element on the island they are forced to land on. The second and third acts of the movie see our cast having to fight to survive against the organized criminal elements in a similar way that the groups on the island in Battle Royale have to fight.
Turistas (2006)
So once again, we are moving away from just movies similar to Plane because they have a plane in it but go down the route of people trying to survive an attack in an isolated remote climate. The poor trio of young travelers in this movie finds themselves attacked, kidnapped, and drugged by organ traffickers after crashing their car in a Brazilian jungle. Filled with the same tension as Plane, we root for our heroes to escape from a horrific fate in this English-Portuguese collaboration that had to be mentioned.
Passenger 57 (1992)
Blade-wielding vampire killer Wesley Snipes is thankfully on board this doomed airplane, which is attacked mid-flight by a dastardly gang of evil-doers under the watchful eye of devilish terrorist Charles Rane. Undercover security officer John Cutter, played by Snipes, has his work cut out for him in this thrill ride as he tries to save the plane and deal with the machinations of the corporate toe rags that don’t want the event leaking out. Standard 90’s action fare here, but sometimes that can be just what you are in the mood for.
Non-Stop (2014)
Liam Neeson reinvented himself as an action hero, and this performance was another rung on his ladder. Here he plays an air marshal on board a transatlantic flight that also has a psychopathic killer on board. The cat and mouse game is basically a whodunit, on a plane, with the killer demanding money or they will kill a passenger every twenty minutes. Unlike Plane, the action is all on the flight, but you must admit this is a great premise. Directed by former Leeson collaborator Jaume Collet-Serra, this is a great movie similar to Plane in at least one respect.
Last Seen Alive (2022)
So we thought there might be many fans of the star, Gerard Butler, so it seemed wrong not to include another of his movies. Last Seen Alive is a psychological thriller that finds Gerard delving into the underworld of a small town after his wife mysteriously disappears from the local gas station. Similar to Plane’s storytelling approach, there are no actual curve balls. It feels like a flick from an earlier era, but this is still an enjoyable, if slightly predictable, thriller with Gerard Butler doing what he does best.
Do you have any other recommendations for movies like Plane? Let us know in the comments below.
