Day 230: "It is the nature of man to confuse genius with insanity."

Ah, action movies from the 90's: I can't remember a time that had more action and less plot.  Passenger 57 is one of the worst offenders of the time.  Further proving what a seminal action movie Die Hard was, Passenger 57 steals its premise and puts it on an airliner (of course, every action movie for 10 years after Die Hard ripped it off mercilessly).  Deeply flawed, trained expert in counter-terrorism good guy John Cutter is put on a flight to Los Angeles after accepting a new security job with the airline.  Coincidentally, the FBI is transporting one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world on the same flight.  The terrorist's followers had apparently planned for this contingency, all of them having jobs with the airline and all of them assigned to the same flight (funny how that worked out, huh?).  They liberate their high-minded leader, take over the plane, and have no clue what to do then.  They did not count on Cutter hiding in the bathroom (sound familiar yet?) and wreaking havoc inside their newly captured flying aluminum tube.  All hell breaks loose, bullets and one-liners fly, somehow everyone winds up at a carnival in Missouri, and in the end the good guys win.  Yawn.

Wesley Snipes shows off his martial arts prowess as Cutter, Bruce Payne smoulders and is arrogant as Charles "Rane of Terror" Rane, Tom Sizemore is Cutter's buddy and employer Sly Delvecchio, Alex Datcher screams herself through the story as flight attendant Marti Slayton, and a really young Elizabeth Hurley is her female baddie counterpart Sabrina Richie.  All of them have just the stupidest, most "actiony" names, don't they?

Anyway, Passenger 57 is awful.  It's another example of an action movie where the villain is ten times as interesting as the hero, and gets off light by being killed.  Who in Hollywood decided that killing the bad guy was the best way to show his comeuppance?  Personally, I think showing him or her going to trial with an incompetent public defender then being sentenced to an overcrowded, maximum security, federal prison with a 400 pound gangbanger named "Twinkle" as a roommate for the rest of his/her life gets the point across much better.  Oh yeah, and as they fade out on the bad guy behind bars, there's a close up of "Twinkle" with the song Hungry Eyes playing in the background.  Yeah, much more satisfying.  I digress, back to the topic at hand.  4/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!