This fictionalisation of what happened when a plane’s windscreen shattered 32,000ft over Tibet ramps up the suspense in enjoyably predictable ways
This brazenly manipulative but undeniably effective disaster movie is as corny as an industrial-sized bag of week-old popcorn but proves that the Chinese film industry really has entered one the late stages of capitalist aesthetic degeneration. Directed by Andrew Lau, who shepherded the glorious Infernal Affairs trilogy to completion, this based-on-a-true-story drama offers a suspenseful fictionalisation of what happened when the cockpit windshield on a Sichuan Airlines flight shattered unexpectedly while the plane was at 32,000ft over the Tibetan plateau.
Craggy-featured Zhang Hanyu anchors the story as the titular captainLiu Changjian, a terse, disciplined ex-air force pilot whose fortitude and quick reactions are tested by this sudden crisis. But the fun part is the way the film stays in the well-worn grooves of genre expectation with the supporting cast of characters, including a cheeky pup of a co-pilot (Jiang Du) who is chastised by circumstance, a steady-nerved, swan-like head of the cabin crew (Quan Yuan), and various other crew members and passengers whose actions variously help or hinder efforts to land the plane safely – like the jerk in business class who you secretly hope will die and the cute Tibetan kid and his mom who look like they could easily be sacrifices to the chaotic gods of aeronautic disaster. Sadly, there is no nun with a guitar whose vigorous impromptu performance nearly kills a sick child, or an inflatable autopilot in the tradition of Airplane!