No Surrender Cinema: Turbulence
Last month, the world suffered a great loss when renowned actor Ray Liotta suddenly passed at the age of 67. Liotta, best known for his portrayal of gangster Henry Hill in the classic film Goodfellas, played a variety of characters over the years, such as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams, but I’ve always felt that his forays into more action-oriented movies usually went unnoticed. Although I find Goodfellas to be a perfect film and one I can discuss endlessly, we’re going to stay on the action path in honor of Ray Liotta’s memory in this edition of No Surrender Cinema. Today we’re going back in time to 25 years ago to cover one of his forgotten films, the 1997 “danger on an airplane” thriller Turbulence!
Released in the era spearheaded by the success of Speed where Hollywood though that a giant vehicle and a cast of recognizable faces meant instant success, Turbulence landed in theaters in January of 1997, months before two bigger airplane themed blockbusters (Con Air and Air Force One) would be released to the public. Led by Liotta, the cast also featured Lauren Holly of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story fame in the role of the protagonist, Catherine Hicks (who played Andy’s mom in the original Child’s Play), Hector Elizondo, and the late Ben Cross, who played crime lord Rabbit on the amazing Cinemax series Banshee. That’s a pretty solid cast, especially by late-90’s standards, but we can’t leave out the other major player in the film, that being the Boeing 747 where most of the action will take place.
The film begins by showing us the backstory of our two main characters. Flight attendant Teri Halloran (Holly) is left broken hearted when her most recent lover decides to call it quits the cowardly way and ghosts her. Meanwhile, Ryan Weaver, appears to be lucky in love, just not so lucky with the authorities. It turns out that sweet ol’ Ryan is suspected of being the Lonely Hearts Killer, a rapist who kills the women he gets close to. Weaver is apprehended by the police, including Lt. Aldo Hines (Elizondo) before he can claim another victim, but Hines’ determination to get Weaver behind bars leaves enough of a grey area where we aren’t sure if Weaver is actually the murdered the cops claim he is, or an innocent man taking the fall.
Since her life is currently in shambles, Teri winds up working on Christmas Eve, and it just so happens that she’ll be working on the 747 that is transporting Ryan Weaver to Los Angeles, along with another convict and a pack of US marshals that will be joining the handful of civilians on board. Ryan shows kindness to the crew and the other passengers, casting doubt on if he’s truly guilty of what he’s been accused of. Stubbs, the other prisoner, could care less about anyone else on board, and does his best to intimidate them. Stubbs is also not the brightest bulb, because he decides that he’s going to escape custody while the 747 is in the air, This leads to a shootout that winds up with Stubbs and all four of the marshals dead, and Weaver shaken by the event. Not only that, but Teri winds up being involuntarily promoted to pilot when it’s discovered that the incident left both pilots dead and she’s the only one who can help land the plane…that is if she can make it through an oncoming storm first.
As if things aren’t unpredictable enough for Teri these days, the presence of Ryan Weaver certainly isn’t going to change things. Sure, at first he came off as likable and charming, but as time goes on Ryan’s behavior becomes more alarming and erratic. Yes, he did the right thing and tried to de-escalate the situation with Stubbs and help keep the plane in the air, but the more minutes go by the more Ryan Weaver grows paranoid, revealing his true nature when he kills flight attendant Maggie. It turns out that Ryan Weaver is in fact the Lonely Hearts Killer and has left a trail of bodies behind him through the years, and there is no way he’s going to let this plane land so that he can be sent to the chair. Weaver makes a call to the FBI and threatens to crash the 747 into their control center at LAX, and when Teri overhears this she realizes that now she has a serial killer to contend with aside from trying to keep herself and the few remaining passengers safe in the sky.
The second half of Turbulence is where Liotta switches gears into a role that he felt comfortable in quite often during his career; acting as an unhinged psychopath allows him to ham it up and chew the scenery like it’s bubble gum. Ray hadn’t had a chance to do so since 1992’s Unlawful Entry, and he looks like he’s relishing the opportunity. After a few years of acting in films like Operation Dumbo Drop, Ray Liotta is back in top form as an intimidating, creepy, downright sleazy killer. Menacing Teri, trying to sabotage her efforts, and interrogating her with crude questions about her sexual history leaves the audience little to root for when it comes to the character of Ryan Weaver, and the way Turbulence builds tension without falling into the expected tropes (Holly plays Teri as a determined, strong-willed woman instead of the frightened mousy type). The way the film handles Teri’s dual obstacles (keeping Weaver at bay and figuring out how to land the plane), rotating her and Ryan’s encounters with the stress of grounding the plane will keep you on the edge of your seat and rooting for her success, even if Liotta’s charisma leaves you wanting more of Ryan Weaver despite him being an irredeemable piece of shit.
Although Turbulence would be outdone by some of the aforementioned blockbusters, it’s still an entertaining film where Liotta stole the show. I didn’t hate Lauren Holly’s efforts here, but I’ll be honest, she was a distant second compared to Ray’s energy and personality as the sinister Ryan. Truthfully, pretty much everyone in Turbulence is just background noise to the man of the hour, but as a whole it endures as the type of 90’s popcorn flick thrill ride we’ve come to know and love here at Bulletproof Action. If you need another slice of Ray Liotta to mix into your repeated viewings of his more highly acclaimed films, watching him lose his mind and try to chop his way into a cockpit with an axe would be a good use of your time. At least I thought it was a good use of mine!
Turbulence is currently airing on EPIX and EPIX On Demand, and appears often on streamers like Tubi and PlutoTV in addition to being readily available on physical media.
Nail on head. There are so many roles Liotta has played to more accolades, but this has to be one of my favorite performances of his. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the director just stood back and let Liotta do whatever he wanted in the role, and Liotta knocks it out of the park.
Bad films can be redeemed by good actors, and this film is definitely on that list. There are too many impossible events to list, but you can ignore them because Liotta’s performance is so good. I’d recommend the film to everyone based on Liotta’s presence alone. The supporting cast is all excellent, but this is Liotta’s show from start to finish.
I like many actors, but Liotta’s sudden, shocking death was truly a gut punch. I haven’t been so gutted by the death of someone I’d never met since the passing of Alan Rickman, another actor that played lauded roles, but when he was given a villain, he was a delight to watch.