Wesley Snipes sets aside the serious films that have made his name — from little-seen efforts like "The Waterdance" to more popular fare like "White Men Can't Jump" and "Jungle Fever" — to demonstrate a more frivolous side to his considerable acting talent in "Passenger 57."
We're in mindless ripoff territory here. But "Passenger 57" doesn't simply want to take a page from "Die Hard" and change the setting, as did "Under Siege" — described by more than one critic as "Die Hard" on a battleship.
No, "Passenger 57" wants to rework no less than the sequel, "Die Hard 2," moving the central action from the airport into the passenger airliner.
National critics are carping that Snipes is slumming here, simply wasting his talent on a silly action picture — and that may be true. But the question is, so what? If Danny Glover can go between the "Lethal Weapon" movies and something like "Predator 2" to more serious fare like "Grand Canyon" and "To Sleep With Anger," why can't Snipes?
Snipes' character here is John Cutter, an airline security agent who has quit his job to nurse psychological wounds after his wife is killed during a holdup he tried to stop.
Early in the film we see the still recovering Cutter snap at an airline attendant (Alex Datcher), who, quite naturally, harbors a grudge. And we meet the film's chief villain (Bruce Payne), one of those British nasties who is so seemingly civilized on the outside but is actually a cold-blooded killer without the slightest sense of humanity.
So, of course, Cutter finds himself on a plane with both of them. Gosh, what a coincidence.
The plot has Payne being taken to Los Angeles by the FBI. They board the plane at the last minute, so as to keep the airline in the dark. But someone must have phoned ahead for reservations since Payne's people are all in place, masquerading as airline employees.
They take over the flight and Snipes is, of course, the only one who can save the day. With karate kicks and punches to the groin (in closeup), Snipes battles Payne's henchmen and succeeds in forcing the plane to land.
After the plane settles on a too-small landing strip, the action shifts briefly to an amusement park (though full advantage of this setting is not considered), and in the end it is back inside the plane for the one-on-one-battle-to-the-death that is a required ending for movies of this type.
There isn't much story, really, and logic takes a back seat to action and mayhem. But there is some crackling dialogue, including some sharp one-liners ("Always bet on black," Snipes snipes), and the stunts are wild-eyed and highly entertaining.
"Passenger 57" is far from the best of this genre but it's certainly better than average — and much of the credit for that has to go to Snipes' performance, which puts him as much in the matinee idol category as it does in the serious actor slot.