Passenger 57 (1992)

Just what I expected

Excellent but underrated film

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Passenger 57 is an absolutely brilliant thriller which is enjoyable to watch. The film is full of action, tension, explosions and awesome and powerful Martial Arts moves. The film has an excellent cast starring Wesley Snipes as John Cutter, Bruce Payne as Charles Rane, Tom Sizemore as Sly Delvecchio, Alex Datcher as Marti Slayton, Elizabeth Hurley as Sabrina Ritchie, Michael Horse as Forget and Marc Macaulay as Vincent. Wesley Snipes acting as Airline Security Expert John Cutter is absolutely brilliant and his Martial Arts moves were awesome. Bruce Paynes acting as the malicious Terrorist Charles Rane was also absolutly brilliant and he sounded very evil the way he spoke in the film which was also absolutely brilliant and Bruce really did a brilliant job acting as the villain Charles Rane. The acting by Tom Sizemore as Sly Delvecchio and Alex Datcher was also brilliant. The acting by Elizabeth Hurley as Sabrina Ritchie, Michael Horse as Forget and Marc Macaulay as Vincent as the terrorists who were part of Charles Ranes team was also brilliant. There are so many things that I like about this film, one thing is that the Passenger 57 theme tune is absolutely brilliant and sounds awesome and really goes with the film, another thing is that the action is awesome and amazing. There are many more things that I like about this film, it's hard to say what they all are but I definitely can say that Passenger 57 is an absolutely brilliant Wesley Snipes film. Wesley Snipes does some excellent films and in thrillers he has starred in, when he has to fight he does fight very well and in this film he really kicks ass when using his Martial Arts moves to fight against the villains. Snipes may not be as strong as Michael Jai White but he's got skills in a few Martial Arts and is quite powerful. In Passenger 57 when John Cutter is on the plane wanting help he is seated holding a book called The Art of War. The film the Art of War starring Wesley Snipes is also an excellent film with action and awesome fight scenes. I don't know why Passenger 57 is underrated and has been given only 5.9/10 and why some people have given it low scores of 1/10, 2/10, 3/10, 4/10, 5/10 and 6/10. Those people who have given Passenger 57 low scores and written unfair comments about the film are dickheads because this film is awesome. People who given it 7/10, 8/10, 9/10 and 10/10 are not dickheads and know that this film is an awesome film. One thing about Passenger 57 is that you definitely won't be disappointed when watching it because it's absolutely awesome and amazing and I definitely will watch this film again because I don't find or think it's boring. I absolutely love this film and definitely recommend watching this film if you really like Wesley Snipes films.

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

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I found Mr. Snipes portrayal of John Cutter, as a hard-working, kick-ass anti-terrorist agent with a heart of gold, very convincing. Mr. Snipes work and talent has been sorely underrated. He is a first-class actor who can hold his own with the likes of Bruce Willis, Vin Diesel and others of that genre. The fight scenes appeared to be done by Mr. Snipes and were well-conceived and acted. And while the movie does not directly address issues of race it is implied, for example in a scene where he is mistaken as one of the terrorist. When he tries to explain he is a law enforcement agent he is immediately believed to be lying, primarily because he is black. I believe the movie should have a higher rating. Hollywood should develop more roles for this very talented actor.

I'm actually surprised at some of the reviews for Passenger 57 and its relatively low score. This was one of those movies I saw very early in my movie lovers career and it was one of the reasons I fell in love with action. They simply don't make movies like this anymore in a post 9/11 and terrorist fuelled world. If you get the right lead actor it was always fun in the 80's and 90's to watch one hero take on a ridiculous amount of horrible bad guys led by a sadistic leader aka: Die Hard, Con-Air, The Rock, Executive Decision, Air Force One and Passenger 57. All those movies I listed are absolutely top notch in my books. This was Wesley Snipes at his best. He oozes confidence and heroism and just bad-assness (yes that's a word!) Its a little simpler of a concept than some of those other movies and it feels a little cheaper and some on IMDb call it "campy" and I suppose compared to today's big budget splashy action flicks it might be but this is when action was done right in my books. Its intense, its gory, its no holds barred and its fun because you always know the bad guy is gonna get his by the lone hero. Ridiculous and near perfect.Wesley Snipes never seemed to be able to be a huge Hollywood star. Maybe I'm wrong but I always saw him as a B-level actor. Still he absolutely has a leading man air about him. He is great at martial arts, shows proper intensity and you believe he can take on a ton of people all at once. He is perfect as John Cutter in this film. Bruce Payne is perfect as the quintessential action villain. In my books, every great action film needs a viscous bloodthirsty villain and Payne nails it. The best villains are the ones that are almost campy but they're too deranged to be funny. Tom Sizemore has a small role as Cutter's guy on the ground and he fits his role well giving a little comic relief and filling his role properly. Elizabeth Hurley, Michael Horse, Marc Macaulay, Ernie Lively and Alex Datcher have small but significant roles that are worth noting as either terrorists, a small town copy (Lively) or the romantic love interest (Datcher.) Datcher is sparingly used and her romance with Snipes feels a little forced but its necessary for a mainstream movie so it works fine.You just can't hate Passenger 57 for its sheer simplicity. It is nothing more than mindless entertainment. You have to sit back and let go and just have fun. The pace of the film is great, tons of action, decent story and it might be predictable but its good enough that the formulaic plot works. It is a guilty pleasure and while it isn't as strong as some of the bigger films that I mentioned earlier, it is a modern day classic in its own right. Director Kevin Hooks is not new to the scene. He's been in Television for decades including after this going into some of the best action thrillers on TV. He knows how to keep the story moving, he knows what people want to see and he works well with his cast. If you have simplistic expectations you can't help but have fun with this 90's Action must. 8/10