Turbulence (1997) MGM/Action-Thriller RT: 101 minutes Rated R (terror, strong violence, language) Director: Robert Butler Screenplay: Jonathan Brett Music: Shirley Walker Cinematography: Lloyd Ahern II Release date: January 10, 1997 (US) Cast: Ray Liotta, Lauren Holly, Brendan Gleeson, Hector Elizondo, Rachel Ticotin, Jeffrey DeMunn, John Finn, Ben Cross, Catherine Hicks, Heidi Kling, Gordy Owens, J. Kenneth Campbell, James MacDonald, Michael Harney, Grand L. Bush, Richard Hoyt Miller, Michael F. Kelly, Alan Bergmann, Danna Hansen, R.J. Knoll, Sondra Spriggs, Tom Todoroff, Garrett Brown. Box Office: $11.5M (US)
Rating: ***
If Speed was Die Hard on a bus, then Turbulence is Speed on a plane. I guess that makes it a grandson of the classic Bruce Willis actioner.
I’m not once to mince words so here it is in plain English. Turbulence is absolutely preposterous. It’s easily one of the most far-fetched movies I’ve ever seen. It has plot holes big enough to fly a fleet of 747s through. It also has one of the least convincing action heroines to ever grace the silver screen. I hated it when I first saw it opening weekend back in ’97. I went on a Saturday afternoon hoping for an enjoyable ride. It wasn’t. The day’s only saving grace was sneaking in to watch the much better Jackie Chan vehicle First Strike (aka Police Story 4) afterwards. I felt that I was owed something.
I can’t explain why, but I’ve come to like Turbulence. I rewatched it this past weekend and found myself enjoying the admittedly bumpy ride. It stars the late Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) as Ryan Weaver, a serial killer being escorted back to death row after escaping custody two years earlier. He claims to be innocent. He says he’s been framed by overzealous LAPD homicide detective Hines (Elizondo, Pretty Woman). Uh huh, that’s what they all say!
Flanked by U.S. Marshals (one of whom is Die Hard co-star Grand L. Bush), Ryan boards a plane along with a bank robber (Gleeson, 28 Days Later). It’s Christmas Eve and there are less than a handful of passengers- an older couple (Bergmann and Hansen), a teen skateboarder (Knoll, Orange County), a career woman (Spriggs, Night Eyes 4) and “Mr. Hollywood” (Todoroff, Hollywood Homicide). And here I thought the holidays were a busy time for airlines. Silly me.
The flight attendant assigned to tend to the prisoners is Teri Halloran (Holly, Dumb and Dumber), a newly single woman just dumped by her fiancee. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s about to be promoted straight to the tippy-top and I don’t mean head stewardess. The bank robber manages to get the upper hand and a shootout ensues. When it’s all over, several people are dead including the marshals, the robber and the pilot and co-pilot. Oh yeah, Ryan is free as well, free to terrorize Teri and everybody else.
So who ends up at the controls? Why, Teri, of course. Who else? Guess what else. [PREPARE FOR A MAJOR SHOCK!] She has NO flying experience whatsoever. [Pause for collective gasp from audience] Well, she’s about to get a crash course in flying [pun absolutely intended]. The folks at LAX control center try to keep her calm while another 747 pilot (Cross, Chariots of Fire) instructs her on the fine art of flying via radio. Teri has her work cut out for her. Not only does she have to deal with a raving psycho, she also has to pilot the plane through a Level 6 storm during which they’re expected to run into severe turbulence. In one of the movie’s best exchanges, she learns a valuable lesson:
Controller: “It’s a Level 6!”
Teri: “Is that on a scale of 1 to 10?”
Controller: “No! It’s on a scale of 1 to 6!”
The FBI is on hand too. The agent on the scene (Finn, Cliffhanger) has an F-14 in the air, ready to shoot down the 747 before Weaver can make good on his promise to deliberately crash it in a populated area. Can Teri keep her wits about her and successfully land the plan? Can she take down the lunatic trying to kill her? I think we all know the answers to both questions.
Lauren Holly serves the same basic function as Sandra Bullock in Speed, but with one big difference. She doesn’t have a Keanu. He did the action hero stuff while Sandra drove the bus. He was the anchor. Lauren doesn’t have a Keanu. She’s entirely on her own as the surviving crew and passengers are safely locked away and forgotten in the crew quarters. This, in and of itself, isn’t a bad thing. The problem is NOTHING about Lauren Holly says action heroine. She does action-type stuff like fighting off an adversary who could easily overpower her, but it never feels real. She’s more like Karen Black in Airport 1975, to date the only cross-eyed pilot I’ve encountered on or off screen.
The real MVP in Turbulence, as you already know, is Liotta. He turns in one his classic unhinged performances as a psycho known as the Lonely Hearts Killer whose signature touch is bringing his female victims teddy bears before he strangles them to death. He’s a charmer to be sure. He lays it on thick with Teri, trying to engage her with talk about It’s a Wonderful Life (the in-flight movie) and what she recommends on the menu. He can almost pass for a nice normal person. That is, until he loses it and kills somebody; in this case, the no-nonsense head attendant (Hicks, Child’s Play) who sees right through his fake charm. Liotta plays it to the sky, about 37,000 feet high. He doesn’t just chew the scenery; he devours it and comes back for seconds.
Directed by Robert Butler (Night of the Juggler), Turbulence is a mish-mash of Die Hard (1988), Passenger 57 (1992) and Speed (1994). I stop short of comparing it to the Airport movies because we don’t get to know any of the passengers, none of whom are played by B or C-list stars. Plus, George Kennedy isn’t anywhere in sight. It should be noted that this is Butler’s final film (he died in 2023). The guy has an interesting filmography. He started out making live-action Disney movies like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), The Barefoot Executive (1971), Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (1972) and Hot Lead, Cold Feet (1978) before moving on to more adult fare like Night of the Juggler (1980), Underground Aces (1981) and Up the Creek (1984). It’s not the greatest swan song, but it’s not the worst either.
The effects in Turbulence are quite good. The climax has the plane taking the roof off a Japanese restaurant (where somebody is doing karaoke, naturally) and sweeping a bunch of cars from the top level of a parking garage. Don’t ask me about the science of a Ford getting caught in its landing gear. I’m just pleased to see practical effects and miniatures put to such good use.
Now let’s take a look at some of the big, gaping plot holes. Is it financially responsible for an airline to fly a 747 from New York to L.A. with less than a dozen passengers? Their total air fare wouldn’t even cover the fuel. Can a 747 actually fly upside down? What about all the mayhem in the climax? Wouldn’t any of it cause the plane to crash? And why are two dangerous criminals being transported on a commercial flight? I thought government law enforcement agencies had special transport planes for that? Oh and wouldn’t shooting down a plane cause just as much damage (if not more) if it was crashed? These are all valid questions, but you’re not supposed to ask them. Turbulence is made for entertainment purposes only; it’s not an instructional film about aviation.
Turbulence went from Bad Movie to Guilty Pleasure in the nearly 30 years since its release. It’s actually laughable at times. Liotta gives it a strong element of camp. All of this prevents Holly from bringing it crashing down. It’s fun if you go in knowing not to expect more than a dopey B-movie.
One final question, should I make this one of my annual Christmas movies?
