The film centers on “Cutter” (Wesley Snipes), who is dealing with his wife's passing while aboard a plane that has been taken over by "Rane" (Bruce Payne) and his crew—which includes one of the flight attendants. Unbeknownst to "Rane," as he makes unreasonable requests of "Atlantic International," “Cutter” happens to be the airline’s head of security, and certainly knows how to use his skills at a high altitude. The …

Facing off against The Reign of Terror—or perhaps it’s our suffering because of it—is a peculiar experience. Among the numerous films that took inspiration from *Die Hard*, *Passenger 57* might very well be the least successful. The narrative centers on Wesley Snipes as John Cutter, an airline security specialist whose flight to L.A. becomes complicated when he finds himself in the middle of a hostage situation orche…

The film functions adequately as a breezy diversion for about ninety minutes, though it consistently fails to surpass a certain level of blandness. The storyline relies on familiar tropes; a terrorist being moved by the FBI aboard a regular flight, their subsequent escape aided by someone within the aircraft, and a protagonist wrongly detained by inept law enforcement—not to mention the predictable airborne leaps and…