Passenger 57

Passenger 57 is a 1992 American action thriller film directed by Kevin Hooks. The film stars Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne, with Snipes portraying a security consultant who finds himself forced to foil a plot to free a captive terrorist during a commercial airline flight. Critical reviews were mixed, but the film was a box-office success, and made Snipes a popular action hero icon.
==Plot==
British international terrorist Charles Rane, whose career has been dubbed as "The Rane of Terror" by the media, is arrested by the FBI and local authorities in Miami, just as he is about to undergo plastic surgery in order to evade law enforcement. The FBI make plans to return Rane to Los Angeles to stand trial.
Widowed law enforcement veteran John Cutter has served an honorable career as a reputable police officer, decorated soldier, and reliable Secret Service agent known for his tough stance on high-level crimes. Having constantly been haunted by the memories of his wife's death in a convenience store robbery, Cutter has launched a course specializing in training flight attendants in self-defense. After one class, Cutter is approached by an old friend, Sly Delvecchio, who offers Cutter the vice presidency of a new antiterrorism unit for his company, Atlantic International Airlines. Cutter is reluctant, but Delvecchio and the company's president, Stuart Ramsey, eventually convince him to accept the offer.
Cutter boards as the 57th passenger on an Atlantic International flight to Los Angeles (a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar), where one of his students, Marti Slayton, is one of the flight attendants. Rane and his two FBI escorts are also aboard. After the flight takes off, several henchmen in Rane's employ, posing as flight attendants and passengers, kill the FBI agents, release Rane, and secure the plane by also killing the captain. Cutter, in the lavatory at the time, manages to use the plane's on-board phone to warn Delvecchio of the situation, but Cutter is soon caught by one of Rane's henchmen.
Cutter overpowers the henchman and takes his weapon; he then uses the agent (in a chokehold) as a shield to confront Rane, but an indifferent Rane shows his ruthlessness by murdering a passenger in cold blood. Cutter realizes he is outmatched and escapes with Marti to the cargo hold, while Rane kills the henchman that Cutter overpowered, ranting of his "incompetence". Cutter dispatches another of Rane's men, Vincent, who is disguised as a caterer. Cutter trips circuitry to dump the plane's fuel, forcing Rane to order the surviving pilots to land at a small Louisiana airfield. As Cutter and Marti prepare to escape upon touchdown, Marti is caught by Forget and he kicks Cutter out of the plane. The local sheriff, Leonard Biggs, and his deputies arrest Cutter, thinking he is a terrorist, and take him to the airport building.
Rane contacts the field's tower and demands refueling, for which he promises half the passengers will be freed. For every three minutes of resistance or indecision, Rane will order five passengers to be executed. Rane also falsely asserts that Cutter is one of his own men turned against him. Biggs gives the go-ahead for refueling, and as the passengers are freed, Rane and some of his men escape from the plane. Cutter recognizes the passenger release as a diversion, escapes from the sheriff, and chases Rane and his men into a local county fair, where he is able to kill one of Rane's men. As Cutter fights with Rane, police arrive and capture Rane, with FBI agents following and confirming Cutter's true identity to Biggs. 
Back at the tower, Rane announces that if he does not contact the plane and give flight clearance, his men aboard have been instructed to kill the rest of the hostages. The FBI agents arrange to return Rane to the plane, escorted by two agents, with plans to have a sniper take down Rane and allow them to storm the plane to save the hostages. However, the sniper is Vincent, who kills the escorts but is shot dead by Cutter, and Rane makes it inside safely. Rane orders the pilots to take off, while Cutter, with Biggs' help, manages to jump from a car onto the speeding plane (through the nose landing gear) before it takes off.
Inside, Cutter deals with more of Rane's accomplices before getting into a fight with Rane. A bullet blows out one of the plane's windows causing explosive decompression, and a door blows out. Cutter manages to get Rane close to the open door and kicks him out of the plane, which sends Rane, screaming in terror, out into the night sky where he falls 35,000 feet (11 km) to his death. The plane returns to the airfield, where the FBI agents secure Sabrina Ritchie, Rane's only remaining agent, and the remaining hostages are freed. Amid congratulations and celebration, Marti and Cutter make their escape into the distance hand-in-hand, but not before Chief Biggs offers them a ride.
==Cast==
* Wesley Snipes as Chief John Cutter
* Bruce Payne as Charles Rane
* Tom Sizemore as Sly Delvecchio
* Alex Datcher as Marti Slayton
* Bruce Greenwood as Stuart Ramsey
* Robert Hooks as Dwight Henderson
* Elizabeth Hurley as Sabrina Ritchie
* Michael Horse as Forget
* Marc Macaulay as Vincent
* Ernie Lively as Chief Leonard Biggs
* Duchess Tomasello as Mrs. Edwards
* William Edward Roberts as Matthew
* James Short as Allen
* Gary Rorman as Douglas
* Joel Fogel as Dr. Bauman
* Jane McPherson as Nurse
* Brett Rice as a Cop
==References==
Category:1992 films
Category:1992 action films
Category:1990s American films
Category:1990s English-language films
Category:American action thriller films
Category:American aviation films
Category:American martial arts films
Category:American police detective films
Category:Capoeira films
Category:Films about aircraft hijackings
Category:Films about terrorism
Category:Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Category:Films directed by Kevin Hooks
Category:Films scored by Stanley Clarke
Category:Films set in Los Angeles
Category:Films set in Louisiana
Category:Films set on airplanes
Category:Films shot in Florida
Category:Films with screenplays by David Loughery
Category:Karate films
Category:Kung fu films
Category:Warner Bros. films