Passenger 57 Information

Passenger 57 is a 1992 American action film directed by Kevin Hooks and starring Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne. The film's success made Snipes a popular action hero icon.

Plot

International terrorist Charles Rane (Bruce Payne), known as the "The Rane of Terror", is caught by the FBI and local authorities just before he receives plastic surgery to alter his features. The FBI make plans to return Rane to Los Angeles aboard a passenger aircraft for him to stand trial.

John Cutter (Wesley Snipes) is a former police officer, haunted by the death of his wife in a convenience store robbery, and has taken to training self-defense to flight attendants, including Marti Slayton (Alex Datcher). After one class, Cutter is approached by an old friend, Sly Delvecchio (Tom Sizemore), who offers Cutter to be the vice-president of a new anti-terrorism unit for his company, Atlantic International Airlines. Cutter is reluctant, but Delvecchio and the company's president Stuart Ramsey (Bruce Greenwood) convince him to accept the offer.

Cutter boards as the 57th passenger on an Atlantic International flight to Los Angeles, where Marti is one of the flight attendants. Rane and his two FBI escorts are also aboard. After the flight takes off, several men in Rane's employ posing as flight attendants and passengers kill the FBI agents, release Rane and secure the plane. Cutter, in the lavatory at the time, manages to use the plane's cellular phones to warn Delvecchio to the situation, but Cutter is soon discovered by one of Rane's agents. Cutter overpowers the agent and takes his weapon; he then uses the agent as a shield to confront Rane. Rane is indifferent, and shows his ruthlessness by taking a passenger as hostage, and then killing him without mercy. Cutter realizes he's outmatched, and with Marti, escape to the plane's cargo hold, dispatching another of Rane's men there. Cutter dumps the plane's fuel, forcing Rane to order the pilots to land at a small Louisiana airfield. Cutter jumps from the plane once it has landed, but Marti is caught by Rane and kept aboard.

Rane contacts the field's tower and demands that the plane be refueled or he will start killing the hostages; he does offer that he will release half of the passengers should they comply. Rane also asserts that Cutter is one of his own men turned against him. Cutter is found by the local sheriff Chief Biggs (Ernie Lively) and taken into custody. Biggs gives the go-ahead for refueling, and as the passengers are freed, Rane and his men escape from the plane, having given orders to those still on board to kill the rest of the hostages if their plans are interfered with. Cutter recognizes the passenger release as a diversion, and escapes from the sheriff, and chases Rane and his men into a local county fair. The FBI arrive and assert Cutter's true identity to Biggs. Cutter is able to kill one of Rane's men and get into a fight with Rane before police arrive and capture him.

Back at the tower, Rane asserts that if he does not contact the plane and is given flight clearance, his men aboard have been instructed to kill the rest of the hostages. The FBI arrange to return Rane to the plane, escorted by two agents, with plans to have a sniper take down Rane and allow the FBI to storm the plane to save the hostages. Instead, the sniper is one of Rane's men, who kills the escorts, and Rane makes it inside safely. Rane orders the pilots to take off, while Cutter, with Biggs' help, manages to jump onto the speeding plane before it takes off. Inside, Cutter deals with more of Rane's men, before getting into a fight with Rane. Their fight blows out one of the plane's windows, causing the bulkhead door to blow out due to explosive cabin decompression. Cutter manages to get Rane to the door and forces him out; Rane falls out of the plane and dies. The plane quickly returns to the airfield, where the FBI secure Rane's remaining agents and the remaining hostages are freed. Amid congratulations and celebration, Marti and Cutter make their quiet escape into the distance hand in hand.

Cast

• Wesley Snipes as John Cutter
• Bruce Payne as Charles Rane
• Tom Sizemore as Sly Delvecchio
• Alex Datcher as Marti Slayton
• Bruce Greenwood as Stuart Ramsey
• Robert Hooks as Dwight Henderson
• Elizabeth Hurley as Sabrina Ritchie
• Michael Horse as Forget
• Marc Macaulay as Vincent
• Ernie Lively as Chief Biggs
• Duchess Tomasello as Mrs. Edwards
• William Edward Roberts as Matthew
• James Short as Allen
• Joel Fogel as Dr. Bauman
• Jane McPherson as Nurse
• Scotty Coyote as stunt double for Bruce Payne

Box office

The film was released on November 6, 1992 and opened at #1 rank in 1,734 theaters. The opening weekend grossing was $10,513,925. Passenger 57's final domestic grossing was $44,065,653. Passenger 57 is one of the films that launched Snipes' career in the action genre. Because of this film's success, Snipes was cast in the lead roles of films including Money Train, Drop Zone, Demolition Man, The Art of War and the Blade film series.

Reception

The film received mixed to negative reviews. Critics praised Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne's performances but panned the weak script. It currently holds a "rotten" 23% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Marcus Trower, of Empire magazine, stated that Bruce Payne was "a brilliantly disconcerting madman. With his flowing blond Jesus locks, armour-piercing stare and casual sadism, he makes Hannibal Lecter look like a social worker " and like Sir Anthony Hopkins' serial killer, part of the man's menace is in the apparent contradiction between his articulate, well-spoken English and his off-hand brutality." The Radio Times stated that Payne and Snipes both gave 'charismatic turns' in the film. The New York Times stated that Payne brought a 'tongue-in-cheek humor to the psychopathic fiend' that he played. A reviewer for People Magazine stated that 'Bruce Payne steals the plane"?and the movie'.