This Gerard Butler ‘popcorn thriller’ movie has become a high flyer on Netflix’s most-watched list, and it’s a great action flick

Gerard Butler's action movie Plane is heading for orbit: after just one week, it has racked up 6.3 million views, making it the second most popular movie on Netflix in the US and setting a course for #1 in the global charts (it's currently sitting at number three for the week ending June 15).

It's averaging a decent four out of five stars among the critics, but it's playing particularly well with viewers: at the time of writing it's got a very impressive 94% on Rotten Tomatoes from the streaming public, making it one of the best Netflix movies.

Butler is Brodie Torrance, a pilot forced to make a risky landing on a war-torn island only to discover that surviving the landing was only the beginning. When rebels take his passengers hostage, Torrance and the accused murderer his plane was transporting have to team up and fight back.

What are the critics saying about Plane?

Plane is rather old-school, it's strongly reminiscent of the big-name action movies of the 80's – and that's no bad thing, especially with Butler in the pilot's seat. As Loud and Clear Reviews put it, "Plane makes it clear that it isn’t reaching for new heights but it doesn’t wing it either".

Don't judge the movie on its trailer, says WCSH: it's better than that, calling it "a decent popcorn thriller". And The Screen says that "Plane is a straightforward movie with very few twists to offer, but the trick to making it engaging lies in its execution".

"Nobody’s going to declare Plane a classic," says Decider, "but between [director Jean-Francois] Richet’s visual acumen and Butler doing admirable diligence to a character who’s in over his head... it’s an enjoyable, fast-paced and surprisingly engaging diversion."

But perhaps Zack Pope is the most representative of the streaming audience's views: as he writes, "Butler + Plane = Awesome".

Plane is streaming now on Netflix.

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