This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Boring

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Turbulence (1997): Dir: Robert Butler / Cast: Lauren Holly, Ray Liotta, Hector Elizondo, Catherine Hicks, Rachel Ticotin: Total waste of film that belongs in a trash bin. Lauren Holly plays the stupidest airline stewardess to ever board a plane. She has just ended a bad relationship and not up for the Christmas cheer. Everything is routine until a couple of criminals decked in shackles are brought aboard. She claims that these guys do not look like criminals. That is how stupid she truly is. What does this moron stewardess view as criminal? Predictable elements follow as one of the criminals is granted use of the washroom leading to a shootout until Holly and one of those so-called innocent criminals are left. Director Robert Butler successfully creates a mess by allowing the action to skew out of control. He previously directed the comedy Up the Creek and this is about as hilarious and that is not a compliment. Holly is at her absolute worst as this airhead stewardess. Ray Liotta does his best as the crazed killer but the role creates nothing new thus leaving him as your standard villain. Hector Elizondo plays the standard cop who tries to talk the plane down and other such crap. Even poor Catherine Hicks gets sucked into this garbage. Pointless garbage with flimsy action scenes that unintentionally play off humour such as the plane flying upside down or its wheels snagging a car. This film should be smashed with a rock. Score: 0 / 10

Airplane thrillers - it's a common plot line. Whether it's a hijacking by a villain or simple mechanical malfunction, there have been several types of films that run in a similar fashion. Airport (1970) or Executive Decision (1996), just to name a couple, all take place on a plane with the possibility of it crashing and killing a ton of lives. Unfortunately, there are only so many ways something can be done. And as for this production, nothing really stands out.This story is about a female flight attendant who gets caught in the crossfire on a moving plane that's transporting two dangerous criminals to another city jail. Problem is, she's the only person left alive to fly the plane. It would be OK if this was the only focus but the writer, Jonathan Brett decided to include another subplot - the plane is headed into a level six storm. Thus the name of the title. Not impressive. I'm sure a better title could've been created even if the subplot of the storm wasn't included.The writer, Jonathan Brett isn't a truly established professional. None of his work is well known and for the films he is given credit for, isn't considered to be even mediocre. For example, why would anyone have two licensed criminals board a passenger airplane? And, when they do get on the plane, there are only 10 passengers,….so why is it so empty? What kind of writing is this? That's not a good sign and it shows throughout the film. The cast may surprise people though. Ray Liotta, Hector Elizondo, Rachel Ticotin {Melina from Total Recall (1990)}, Catherine Hicks and John Finn all have number of scenes long enough for viewers to appreciate their presence. However, this doesn't mean their performances are good or even close to being any different than their past roles in films.One of the criminals who is the main antagonist is played by Ray Liotta. This isn't a surprise. Liotta proved he could play a scary character in Unlawful Entry (1992) and it was much more realistic. Here, Liotta still can be scary but his performance is either underdone or overdone. Almost like he has a split personality. That would've been more entertaining if that had been written into the screenplay. As for the other actors mentioned, they just play minor characters which is nice when they're on screen but when they aren't, the plot runs extremely slow. Lauren Holly, who plays Teri, the flight attendant isn't entertaining either. Her fear looks real but her voice is irritating and can make it hard for people to sympathize with the character.I'm honestly surprised that the direction wasn't better. The movie is directed by Robert Butler who has 3 Primetime Emmys and a few other awards. The special effects aren't bad either, they at least matched the era of the decade. At least that worked as well as Shirley Walker's score to the film. It wasn't memorable and didn't have a theme but at least it corresponded at all the right moments of each scene. There definitely was the right emotion for each particular segment. But that is it.For a thriller with a B list cast of actors from the small and big screens, one would think this would turn out at least somewhat watchable. It has OK music and special effects but the writing isn't special or even close to being a little different and the acting is poor.

1st watched 3/1/2009 – 4 out of 10(Dir-Robert Butler): Good guy turned psycho hijacking a plane movie just becomes a little too all things work out right in the end for me. Sure, we're cheering for the plane to come down and the Lauren Holly character to save the day, but why wouldn't we??--- That's where the movie took us!! Manipulative movie-making at it's best here, but it doesn't make for a good movie. The story starts being about a bad cop planting evidence supposedly on a good guy.(who later turns out to be a psycho) That "good guy", played by Ray Liotta, is taken on a plane from NY to LA to go to his execution. A revolt starts up by another Psycho passenger and then we find out the Liotta character was in on it all along. Lauren Holly, plays a goody-two-shoes flight attendant who just lost her fiancée ( so we're all rooting for her, of course) and probably wants to just get on with the rest of her life but is put in the middle of this. Who do you think becomes the hero in this whole thing?? No- it couldn't be – but it is!!(The Goody-Two-Shoes girl!!) There are some funny bits at the end of the movie while Holly is trying to land the plane, but I'm not exactly sure they were what was needed. This really is just a women's version of a guy hero movie, but not good enough for women to respect very much. It will definitely take awhile for the Lauren Holly character to date again after the incident – but she knows how to be a Hero!!(Sorry for the sarcasm in this review, I couldn't help myself)

Distributor: HBO Home VideoPlot: When a 747 heading from New york to L.A. is taken over by a seductive psychopathic killer, and the only one who can stop him is a beautiful young flight attendant, you'd better fasten your seat belts because this trip is going to be a killer ride.Audio/Video: The VHS edition has perfect picture quality and has an excellent sound quality.Extras: No extras on the video.Final thoughts: Turbulence is a thrilling movie with great acting ans excellent special effects, but after watching it a couple of times, it really starts to get boring. The sequel is pretty good. I have yet to see the 3rd part, but part 2 is cool, check it out.