{"id":13824,"date":"2026-01-14T13:39:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=13824"},"modified":"2026-01-14T13:39:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:39:23","slug":"turbulence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/01\/14\/turbulence\/","title":{"rendered":"Turbulence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Turbulence<\/strong> (1997)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 MGM\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 101 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (terror, strong violence, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Robert Butler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jonathan Brett\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Shirley Walker\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Lloyd Ahern II\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 10, 1997 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $11.5M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0If Speed was Die Hard on a bus, then Turbulence<\/strong> is Speed on a plane. I guess that makes it a grandson of the classic Bruce Willis actioner.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m not once to mince words so here it is in plain English. Turbulence<\/strong> is absolutely preposterous. It\u2019s easily one of the most far-fetched movies I\u2019ve 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 \u201997. I went on a Saturday afternoon hoping for an enjoyable ride. It wasn\u2019t. The day\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I can\u2019t explain why, but I\u2019ve come to like Turbulence<\/strong>. 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\u2019s been framed by overzealous LAPD homicide detective Hines (Elizondo, Pretty Woman). Uh huh, that\u2019s what they all say!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Flanked 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\u2019s 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 \u201cMr. Hollywood\u201d (Todoroff, Hollywood Homicide). And here I thought the holidays were a busy time for airlines. Silly me.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The 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\u2019t know it yet, but she\u2019s about to be promoted straight to the tippy-top and I don\u2019t mean head stewardess. The bank robber manages to get the upper hand and a shootout ensues. When it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So who ends up at the controls? Why, Teri, of course. Who else? Guess what else. [PREPARE FOR A MAJOR SHOCK!]<\/strong> She has NO flying experience whatsoever. [Pause for collective gasp from audience] Well, she\u2019s 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\u2019re expected to run into severe turbulence. In one of the movie\u2019s best exchanges, she learns a valuable lesson:<\/p>\n

Controller: \u201cIt\u2019s a Level 6!\u201d<\/p>\n

Teri: \u201cIs that on a scale of 1 to 10?\u201d<\/p>\n

Controller: \u201cNo! It\u2019s on a scale of 1 to 6!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0The 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Lauren Holly serves the same basic function as Sandra Bullock in Speed, but with one big difference. She doesn\u2019t have a Keanu. He did the action hero stuff while Sandra drove the bus. He was the anchor. Lauren doesn\u2019t have a Keanu. She\u2019s 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\u2019t 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\u2019s more like Karen Black in Airport 1975, to date the only cross-eyed pilot I\u2019ve encountered on or off screen.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The real MVP in Turbulence<\/strong>, 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\u2019s a charmer to be sure. He lays it on thick with Teri, trying to engage her with talk about It\u2019s 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\u2019s Play) who sees right through his fake charm. Liotta plays it to the sky, about 37,000 feet high. He doesn\u2019t just chew the scenery; he devours it and comes back for seconds.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Robert Butler (Night of the Juggler), Turbulence<\/strong> 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\u2019t get to know any of the passengers, none of whom are played by B or C-list stars. Plus, George Kennedy isn\u2019t anywhere in sight. It should be noted that this is Butler\u2019s 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\u2019t (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\u2019s not the greatest swan song, but it\u2019s not the worst either.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The effects in Turbulence<\/strong> 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\u2019t ask me about the science of a Ford getting caught in its landing gear. I\u2019m just pleased to see practical effects and miniatures put to such good use.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Now let\u2019s 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\u2019t even cover the fuel. Can a 747 actually fly upside down? What about all the mayhem in the climax? Wouldn\u2019t 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\u2019t shooting down a plane cause just as much damage (if not more) if it was crashed? These are all valid questions, but you\u2019re not supposed to ask them. Turbulence<\/strong> is made for entertainment purposes only; it\u2019s not an instructional film about aviation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Turbulence<\/strong> went from Bad Movie to Guilty Pleasure in the nearly 30 years since its release. It\u2019s actually laughable at times. Liotta gives it a strong element of camp. All of this prevents Holly from bringing it crashing down. It\u2019s fun if you go in knowing not to expect more than a dopey B-movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One final question, should I make this one of my annual Christmas movies?\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turbulence (1997)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 MGM\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 101 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (terror, strong violence, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Robert Butler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jonathan Brett\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Shirley Walker\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Lloyd Ahern II\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 10, 1997 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ray Liotta, Lauren Holly, Brendan Gleeson, Hector Elizondo, Rachel Ticotin, Jeffrey DeMunn, John Finn, Ben Cross, Catherine Hicks, Heidi Kling, Gordy Owens, J. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guilty-pleasures","category-suspense-thrillers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13824"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13828,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13824\/revisions\/13828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}