Passenger 57

"He's an ex-cop with a bad mouth, a bad attitude, and a bad seat. For the terrorists on flight 163 . . . he's very bad news."

1992 1h 24m EN

😐

6.0

MID

★6.0TMDB · 1,177

ActionAdventureThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Airline security specialist John Cutter, finally returning to the job after his wife's death, finds himself stuck on a flight being hijacked by notorious terrorist Charles Rane. Unfortunately for the terrorists, they're also stuck with him.

“He's an ex-cop with a bad mouth, a bad attitude, and a bad seat. For the terrorists on flight 163 . . . he's very bad news.”

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Cast

Wesley Snipes
John Cutter
Bruce Payne
Charles Rane
Tom Sizemore
Sly Delvecchio
Alex Datcher
Marti Slayton
Bruce Greenwood
Stuart Ramsey
Robert Hooks
Dwight Henderson
Elizabeth Hurley
Sabrina Ritchie
Michael Horse
Forget

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Kevin Hooks
Writers: Dan Gordon, David Loughery, Stewart Raffill
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

84 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

34 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Kevin Hooks, shot by Mark Irwin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Stanley Clarke. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Richard Nord shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne and Tom Sizemore carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "He's an ex-cop with a bad mouth, a bad attitude, and a bad seat. For the terrorists on flight 163 . . . he's very bad news.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0105104 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Kevin Hooks directs. Mark Irwin behind the camera. Stanley Clarke scores. Richard Nord cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

184 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
234 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Kevin Hooks, shot by Mark Irwin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Stanley Clarke. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Richard Nord shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne and Tom Sizemore carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "He's an ex-cop with a bad mouth, a bad attitude, and a bad seat. For the terrorists on flight 163 . . . he's very bad news.".
8IMDB entry: tt0105104 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 8 themes, including "florida", "airport", "fbi", "hijacking".

The technical file

Cinematography: Mark Irwin
Original score: Stanley Clarke
Editing: Richard Nord
Production design: Jaymes Hinkle
Costume design: Brad R. Loman
Makeup / hair: Selena Evans-Miller
Sound: Wayne Artman
Stunt coordinator: Glenn R. Wilder
Runtime: 84 min · 1h 24m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $15,000,000
Box office: $44,065,653
Return: 294% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Passenger 57 (1992)

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Kevin Hooks

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Dark Jedi2014-08-31
★ 6/10
This movie is acceptable as 85 minutes of light entertainment but it really never rises above mediocrity. The plot is unimaginative with all the usual elements. Terrorist is transported by FBI on commercial flight, terrorist escapes with the help of an insider on the plane, our hero gets arrested by bungling cops who mistakes him for a bad guy and of course the obligatory jump off or on the plane while it is moving scenes. Yawn! Wesley Snipes performance is as good as one can expect of Wesley Snipes which of course does not help elevate the movie above mediocrity. The one character which stands above the rest is the master terrorist played by Bruce Payne. I quite liked his cool, insane style of portraying his character. There are a few semi-decent action scenes splattered around the movie which helps keeping the interest just above the I’ll-read-a-book-instead level. Otherwise the movie is an easily forgettable one. It is quite acceptable as 85 minutes of light entertainment but I would say that its relatively short length is one of its positive traits.
John Chard2016-07-10
★ 3/10
Wesley Snipes vs The Rane Of Terror. Or should that be our Pain at the Terror? Of all the Die Hard clones there have been, and there have been many! Passenger 57 may just be the worst. The story follows Wesley Snipes' airline security expert John Cutter, who whilst undertaking a flight to L.A. gets embroiled in a hostage takeover led by evil bad man with a troubled childhood, Charles Rane. Cue quips, kicks and death defying tricks as Cutter strikes one for the good guys. Kevin Hooks' film works well enough on a very basic actioner level, due in the main to Snipes. Snipes was six years away from his signature role in Blade, and for sure he is a bona fide action star. As evidenced here, he has the charisma and body motions to carry the film thru its turgid script. It's a script that smacks of the writers sitting round a table and suggesting they put Snipes in a number of tricky situations and used that as an excuse for him to beat the crappola out of everyone. Oh and lets not forget the forced love story waiting to happen as well. Ultimately it's just a lazy film that is the cash in that many realised it was upon its release. Bruce Payne manfully tries to make the unbalanced Charles Rane truly evil, but doesn't succeed. Liz Hurley, goddess of womanhood that she is, looks uncomfortable holding a gun, while leading lady Alex Datcher is hopelessly out of her depth. While the youthful looking Tom Sizemore and Bruce Greenwood also appear - but both are throwaway characters that you end up wishing we had had more of. Stanley Clarke's score is abysmal, it's the sort of score one expects to hear in a soft core porno movie - you know the kind where the protagonists are making love but they still have their underwear on! Yes that kind. Poor plotting, poor scripting and just about poor in technical execution. I don't ask much of the action genre, I really don't, but at least give the film some soul from which to entertain the popcorn masses. 3/10 for Snipes' fighting and Liz Hurley's legs.
CinemaSerf2025-08-31
★ 6/10
“Cutter” (Wesley Snipes) is grieving the death of his wife as he travels on an aircraft that finds itself hijacked by the dastardly “Rane” (Bruce Payne) and his henchmen - including one of the hostesses with the mostest. What “Rane” hadn’t factored in as he makes outrageous demands of “Atlantic International” is that the mourning “Cutter” is head of security for this very airline and is no slouch when it comes to demonstrating his ninja skills at thirty thousand feet! What now ensues sees some acrobatic antics at altitude and on the ground as the story follows predicable lines from start to finish. Snipes is fine as an action hero, but he is best left with a few lines as possible because this dialogue is way more of his enemy here than the floppy-haired Payne could ever hope to be. It has a few goes at a denouement, on the tarmac, on the plane, and even in a fairground but there’s not the slightest hint of jeopardy as this, admittedly quite quickly paced, drama goes through the motions. It passes the time, but is little more than a vehicle for a star who hasn’t the charisma of Eddie Murphy to pull this off, and it’s disappointingly join-the-dots.