User reviews

There's a bizarre human appetite for that which is awful. From lookie-looing at traffic accidents to Man Show mooks to Lettreman's stupid pet tricks to worst home videos, etc., people like to watch people being stupid, outrageous, and ridiculous. Therein lies the appeal of "Turbulence", a not-to-be-taken-seriously white knuckle ride into the realm of the ridiculous with Holly as the "Stew" who's got to save a 747 jumbo jet with a handful of passengers against all odds including one very whacked out serial killer (Liotta). Ok, ok...this movie is stupid. However, for those who can get to that place in their heads where they don't intellectualize, just go with it, and enjoy the humor-tinged hair raising suspense and silliness, 100 minutes of entertainment awaits. (C)

Many people are very critical of this movie-but it does have some fans,including me!Okay,the whole thing is full of absurdities-but so what!Butler takes the old "stewardess flies the plane" cliche,runs with it,and delivers an enormously entertaining slice of hokum.The formula is paired down to basics,as mad serial killer Weaver(Ray Liotta),creates havoc aboard the plane,determined it will crash into L.A.-so he can go out in a blaze of vengeful glory.All that stands in his way is plucky flight attendant Teri(Lauren Holly).The stage is set for a frantic live action "Tom and Jerry" wing ding between monstrous male psycho predator,and winsome female "prey". Liotta really seems to be enjoying himself here,and is given lots of goofy "psycho speak" to deliver with relish.Weaver has a sense of humor too!"I'm never flying this airline again!",he shouts to himself,after being tumbled backwards down some stairs,a leg painfully crushed in a door. Then there's Terri-cute,willowy and Bambi eyed-I found myself pretty upset seeing what poor Teri goes through in this movie!But despite insults,threats,punches,assaults,smoke attacks and all,she has the moxie to keep going.Battered,bruised and bloodied she still looks stunning!And at the beginning,we are told some guy just broke off his engagement to THIS girl!HE must've been crazier than Weaver!

If I was a director and wanted to make a film that set out to parody the action-thriller genre I think I would have produced something like Turbulence.

It is so packed with ludicrous sequences, stereotyped characters and predictable plot lines that it becomes impossible to take it seriously. This film ends up being entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons. It is so unbelievably bad that you won't be able to help yourself but laugh at it - should you actually decide to ever see this piece of nonsense.

Its a killer ride alright - its so hilarious you'll kill yourself laughing! This is to action movies what 'Plan 9' is to Science Fiction.

So awful its amazing!

I agree with the other users comments that this film is pointless. I found this movie lacks any feeling, or emotion. No one cares how this movie ends. I do not know if it was the directors fault or the script. My wife likes it, and it could be lost to the male audience. This film is neither scary or tense. I did not like the preview, and it represents this movie well. Another forgettable movie that will someday fade away. 4/10

The worst? ABSOLUTELY! This movie is so bad on so many levels I'm not sure where to start. The premise is that a Christmas Eve plane flight from NY to L.A. (decorated for X-mas no less) will have less than a dozen passengers. Obviously the scriptwriter hasn't been near an airport in some time. Even if such a thing were to happen, the flight would be canceled and the passengers put on other flights, it's simply not feasable for an airline to fly a jumbo jet cross country for 12 people. Lauren Holley's flight attendant is the stupidest hero ever committed to celluoid. The fact that as someone who supposedly works on a plane doesn't know how to the use the radio is not only moronic but rather scary. That she is also unaware of the rating system used for storms proves that the writer has very little respect for the profession. (As a related stupidity, said storm lasts from Cleveland to L.A. It must be the biggest storm in recorded history) Other writing blunders: we are expected to believe that a jumbo jet, flying on auto pilot can not only fly upside down(??!!) but then miraculously, right itself. The big "action" scenes near the end are of various collisions between plane and land bound objects. Let's see, in a battle between aluminum plane wing and steel framed billboard who do you think will win? A similar question is then asked about the cement roof of a parking garage vs. plane landing gear. Of course in this movie, the plane somehow wins both of those contests. With this much care put into the believablity of the script you can only guess at how much care was taken with the acting or direction. Even bad movies often have something to make them at least worth sitting through. Not this one. It is a complete and utter waste of 90 minutes that you could spend cleaning lint out of your navel. It is the only film in the 90's I have ever given a 0 on my 1-10 scale.

Here's one of those films that wears you out. By the end, you're exhausted. I really liked this the first two times but three viewings were enough. By then, the absurdity of the whole thing had fried what few brain cells I have left.

Ray Liotta is excellent as the psycho serial killer who puts on a charming Ted Bundy-like appearance for a short while before publicly showing his insanity. He's fascinating, start to finish here, even providing some very humorous lines.

I wish I could say I enjoyed the other people in here but, except for Ben Cross, I couldn't. Lauren Holly, the female star of the film, is decent for much of the "ride" but becomes annoying and totally non-believable in the final phase of the film, becoming out-of-character profane and nasty herself. (Of course, her flight did turn out to be a tiny bit stressful which might have affected her patience. ha ha)

Of course, with a film like this, there are going to be some severe questions with credibility, but when did that ever stop filmmakers? Other reviewers in here have already detailed some of the non--sensible parts, so no need to dwell on that. This is not brainfood: it's just escapist entertainment for a night, something to show your girlfriend so she'll hold onto you during all the suspense!

Anyway, I enjoyed the special effects, especially with the plane smashing a few buildings, and the sound was awesome, at least on the DVD. For much of the flight, they are flying through a storm and the rumbles form the shaking airliner, was dramatic.

Disgusting. That sums up the train-wreck-in-the-sky entitled "Turbulence". The DVD should come with its' own air-sick bag, because you'll be nauseaous from the time it lifts off the runway.

A thin story is anchored even more by horrible, and I mean horrible acting from both Ray Liotta and Lauren Holly. This is yet another Ray Liotta psychopath flick. When is he not type-cast as a thug or maniac? Very predictable lines from him. Lauren Holly looked like a genius - in Dumb and Dumber. "Turbulence" highlights the lowest point in her acting career. From horrible make-up, to times in the movie where she goes from calm (when she shouldn't be) to a screaming mess defending herself from Liotta's killer habits.

Luckily, a friend lent me this DVD, so I didn't actually waste any money on it, but I did waste an hour and 37 minutes.

This is no Airport '75 - not by a long shot.

I'm a Ray Liotta fan and I'd never heard of this over the top airplane disaster movie. But it's not like the old Airport movies where you're supposed to get emotionally involved with the secondary characters. And while it's not a spoof, it certainly isn't to be taken seriously. It's just a somewhat silly thrill ride set at the holidays. Like Die Hard on a plane.

An implausible but intense thrill ride with a more than competent cast.

As the film opens, it is Christmas Eve, and we get our introduction to our Bad Guy, Ryan Weaver (Ray Liotta, doing the kind of character he does best). He's a good-looking, charming-on-the-surface killer who has come to be known as the "Lonely Hearts Strangler" because his M.O. is apparently to target a single woman, romance her for a time, and then . . . well, they do call him "Strangler". After leaving a toy store with a cute stuffed animal and arriving at his new girlfriend (next intended victim's) place, he is arrested and kicked in the stomach by the detective (Hector Elizondo) who has been after him for years and even framed him by planting evidence (although it's okay in this case because HE DONE IT! Who cares what they had to do to get him?) In a clever bit of opening misdirection, we see shots of Bad Guy on his way to his latest target's place intercut with shots of our Heroine (waifish but not anorexic, blonde-haired-big-blue-eyed Lauren Holly) in her own place in such a way as to make us think that she is his new "girlfriend", when in fact she is not.

The two do meet, however, since our Heroine is a flight attendant assigned to the Christmas Eve flight on which Bad Guy is being transported to prison to await his execution. Along with Bad Guy is another con (Brendan Gleeson, in a Glee-ful performance) who's first words are his reply to our Heroine's question, "What would you like?", referring to drinks. His response? "I'd like to nail you, baby,", in the slimiest-sounding Cornpone accent you've ever heard. Is this guy really British?! Anyway, our charming con goes on to ask to be taken to the plane's bathroom, uses the soap-thingy as a weapon to kill the officer who is guarding him, and proceeds to make like Jeff Foxworthy if Foxy was a BAD-ASS Redneck. He ends up holding our Heroine hostage with a gun to her pretty blonde head, and who talks him into letting her go? None other than our Bad Guy, who at this point is still making like an unjustly accused and convicted Good Guy. In another dust-up, the other con and several others are shot. (The pilots have, in the midst of all this, been killed).

Our Heroine is told by our Bad Guy that the pilot hit his head but is all right and is going to land. He begins to win her sympathy, asking her if she believes in capital punishment, to which she answers "No". Our Heroine is sharp, however, and notices that the plane does not appear to be descending. She decides to go to the cockpit herself to check things out and finds the pilot and his co-pilot dead. She manages to make contact with the ground, however, and they patch her through to a pilot (Ben Cross, who brings his presence and accent to the role)who instructs her on how to communicate with the people on the ground and how to operate the plane(to LAND it, of course). Our Bad Guy, however, is determined that they will crash and, he hopes, take as many other people with them as possible. He shows his true colors, and it is at this point that it becomes almost impossible not to enjoy watching Mr. Liotta; he simply seems to be having so much FUN playing this particular wack-pot. As the plane tosses them to-and-fro (did I mention that they're headed into a six-on-a-scale-of-one-to-six thunderstorm?) our Heroine must defend herself after being coaxed out of the cockpit by our Bad Guy. While not trying to come across as the Xena of flight attendants, Ms. Holly is determined and tough mentally and also physically when forced to fight for her life. Yes, at one point, she uses sex - or at least the promise of sex - to get our Bad Guy to let his guard down for a moment, but, hey, it's one of the few "weapons" she has at her disposal, along with the fire extinguisher she clobbers him with shortly after the bogus come-on. (Why, under these circumstances, does our psycho-but-sharp Bad Guy believe for a MOMENT that the woman he's terrorizing would have sex with him, even to save herself and the few other people on board the plane he hasn't killed? Because it's a movie, children!) Anyway, after kicking a little Bad Guy butt and ultimately getting ahold of a Marshall's gun and killing him, our Heroine manages to land the plane. Merry Christmas! If you just want to shut down your higher brain functions and watch a good psycho-killer-chiller, and especially if you like it when said chiller supposedly takes place on Christmas, this is highly recommended for you. Cheers.

In the tradition of hilariously bad movies like "Roadhouse" and "The Postman", "Turbulence" truly delivers the goods. Convicted serial killer, Ray Liotta, is on his way to LA to take up residence on death row. What follows makes one wonder if they're watching a twisted remake of "Airplane." After the lampooning that air disaster movies took with that landmark spoof, you would think filmmakers would be wary about returning to the skies with such a half-baked, over the top implausi-fest. I get the feeling that after a while they realized the comic potential of the movie and started playing it for laughs. How else to explain the truck stuck on the landing gear sequence, the "she's not a stewardess, she's a flight attendant" quote, and the plugging of a gun fire induced hole in the fuselage with a briefcase. Of course, my favorite is when Liotta finds himself in the avionics bay, and discovers what appears to be a tomahawk like ax. Ground control notes his presence and gasps that "He may take out the autopilot." Cue the next shot, a sign on a panel "Caution: Autopilot controls" which is dutifully smashed by our ax wielding friend. The landing sequence is hilarious as well. If you're looking for a serious, thoughtful action movie, skip this one. If you're looking for a few good laughs, check it out.

I happen to love movies that take place on airplanes, maybe because they're usually, or always about the same thing: A terrorist (or more) hijacks the plane and threatens to kill the passengers, sometimes along with the pilot. Plus, there's a storm too, making matters worse. That's basically all you can do in an airplane movie. The only exception is "Snakes on a Plane". Anyway, I had a good time the whole way through, even though I think the film could have used more characters (and complications), and a flight attendant who is a lot more smarter. This flight attendant, played by Holly, isn't very bright, even for a victim. Maybe she should have been the one choked to death. The other stewardess, played by Hicks, is more interesting. Besides, aren't the victims killed off in horror movies usually the not-so-smart ones? I suppose I could give the movie credit for trying something a little different.

*** out of ****

Ray Liotta is one of my favorite actors, but this movie is just plain stupid!! A flight attendant is left flying the plane and she leaves the cockpit to search the 747 for a friend while its in the midst of a major storm. This insults the intelligence of anyone with a brain! It is just plain STUPID! Just watch it. You'll see stupidity at its best.

Or better yet, take the dog for a walk and have more fun and intelligence watching him sniff and pee. This is the dumbest movie I have ever seen. What a waste of a great actor. this is a stupid movie very dumb laugh at it but don't waste your evening or money watching it

stupid stupid stupid

If they had tried a little harder, this could have been as good a spoof of the genre as 'Airplane'. It IS a spoof isn't it???? A few more lines like "I'm never flying this airline again" would have worked wonders. And where was Leslie 'Don't call me Shirley' Nielsen??? No, this is unmitigated rubbish. I worked at an airport for many years, and know a little about aviation. Aeroplanes do not behave like the one in this film. And one post 9/11 thought: I believe that cockpits now can only be opened from the inside. Once the co-pilot is incapacitated, no-one would be able to get in.... erm end of film, I think!!!

Turbulence, it's such a stupid, pointless movie. The aircraft, a Trans Con 747-200, has the controls of a 747-400. This is a 747-200! not a 747-400. The cockpit should have gouges, switches, and a flight engineer station, rather than having computers. How can a 747 have very little passengers on a holiday? Why would the police transport a convict on a civilian airliner? I thought that convicts should be transported on a Boeing 727 (like the one they used in the film Eraser and U.S. Marshals) rather than a Boeing 747, unless there are more than 300 convicts. Why would the autopilot kill the pilot? Pretty stupid invention. I tested what would happened if a Boeing 747-200 would do if flies upside down on Flight Simulator ( by Microsoft not the real one). The 747 would lose a lot of altitude instead of flying at leveled altitude, And there is no way a 747 would have an outside viewing window in the avionics bay. Neither does it have a sliding door on the staircase to block access to the upper deck. The staircase of a 747-200 is not suppose to be straight it's suppose to be spiral styled. Even the Tower Air 747 ( the aircraft that Capt. Bowen flies while helping Teri to fly the plane ) has the same stuff like the Trans Con 747. Most of the scenes in Turbulence has been placed in films like, Turbulence 2 and 3 and Ground Control. Turbulence 2 and 3 all have something in common, and that is their destination is always LAX. I really don't like this film, but I like to keep on watching it whenever there is nothing to watch on TV.

I love Christmas movies and I'm always on the lookout for new ones. Every year I watch a whole bunch of them during the Christmas season and often they might be set around the season but they don't do too much with it. Turbulence does a lot with its Christmas theme as the plane is fully decorated, characters talk about Christmas, and Ray Liotta sings a song from It's A Wonderful Life. Ray is the absolute star of this movie and unleashes his acting abilities to the full extent, Nic Cage style. He completely steals the show and makes this movie as watchable as it is. On top of that, I was very surprised by how genuinely tense it was and that there were some decently filmed, very atmospheric scenes. All the special effects are terrible, even by 1997 standards but they add to the charm of the movie and give a few laugh out loud moments. I love 80s and 90s ridiculousness and I would've likely given Turbulence 6 stars but the Christmas setting gets that one extra star from me. It's not a good movie by any means but it's very entertaining and underrated and is a good movie to watch to get yourself in the mood for Christmas.

Both movies, dealing with airplanes and being hijacked are loads more better than this crud. Ray Liotta plays his usual psychotic self in this wannabe thriller. If it wasn't cheesy enough, Lauren Holly plays the leading heroic role, which is at best, nails on the chalkboard, in terms of acting. She was okay in Dumb and Dumber, where she didn't have to utter many words. In this, she is totally flat, non-believable. Ray Liotta, on the other hand, as corny as he acts in this movie, goes well in this role. He can get away with acting corny, cheesy or whatever, because his character's personality draws for it. If you want to see a movie, with very little thrills, hardly any spills and the most unbelievable story line in the history of airplane movies, then this movie is for you. Horrible movie, hands down. Sorry, Ray, I love ya, but even you couldn't save this tripe.

Ok, this movie isn't fantastic and if I'd paid $12 bucks or whatever to watch it at the cinema I too would probably be feeling a little ripped-off. But I paid $2 bucks for me, the wife and a mate to watch it and, quite frankly, it was better than Mulan which we'd also hired. I also have to say I think it's superior to Con Air, Executive Decision, Air Force One, or any other recent aeroplane highjacking movie I've seen recently. Ray Liotta does make a great psycho and, although his character was rather confused, he was still pretty creepy. Yes, the film was full of inconsistencies - the empty plane at Christmas, why they didn't use a smaller aircraft or bump the passengers to another airline, the bullet-hole patched with a suitcase, the failure of the oxygen masks to drop when cabin pressure was lost, the ability to hear the pilot's radio through a closed cockpit door, etc etc etc... the list is almost endless. But this was still a fairly entertaining movie. If anything 'though, it made air travel look safe. If Lauren Holly can land a 747 on autopilot with a lunatic trying to kill her, anyone could do it! My vote 6/10

This has got to be one of the 5 worst movies ever unleashed upon the world. It is stupid beyond belief. Thankfully, my TV is on for 'noise only' while I work from home, because no one should spend a single second of their life on this mess if they have anything. even remotely worth doing.

I have to print at least ten lines. There is nothing else that needs to be said about this movie that I have not already said.

I have to print at least ten lines. There is nothing else that needs to be said about this movie that I have not already said.

I have to print at least ten lines. There is nothing else that needs to be said about this movie that I have not already said.

"Turbulence" is one of the most implausible movies I've ever seen. But at the same time it's also one of the most entertaining. It's about a 747 jet en route from New York to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve that just happens to be transporting two criminals. When the criminals break loose, all hell breaks loose. Soon before you know it, shootouts commerce. All the marshals watching the two criminals are killed as well as the two pilots. The one criminal who broke loose is eventually shot by the other criminal (Ray Liotta), and proceeds to lock the other flight crew and passengers in a room on the plane. For the rest of the flight, it's mano-a-mano between the criminal and a plucky but not-so-bright stewardess (Lauren Holly) who tries to land the plane with help from the control tower in L.A. and a pilot who attempts to talk her down. But very bad weather lurks in the skies ahead, and the flight becomes one killer ride. There are several scenes in "Turbulence" that are very hard to believe, but I was literally on the edge of my seat while watching it. Liotta (from "Goodfellas") has a blast as the serial killer, while Holly is just adequate as the stewardess (she would have been better if only her character hadn't acted so dumb in a couple of scenes). There are other supporting roles in the film featuring Hector Elizondo, Catherine Hicks, Rachel Ticotin, Brendan Gleeson, and Ben Cross. "Turbulence" is silly and unbelievable in some spots, but for the most part I found it to be a very exciting and very entertaining action-suspense-thriller.

*** (out of four)

This is not a film for those who seek major plot-holes, because this film has considerably more than it's fair share of them. Or for those who are unwilling to suspend all that is zany and off-the-wall. Because if you can do both and you want nearly two hours of crazy entertainment that is borderline hilariously insane, then this film is for you. Just sit back, and enjoy!

One of the 10 worst movies I have ever seen. Takes the worst, hackneyed bits from movies such as Con Air, Air Force One and even The Shining and stomps them into sh*t chowder. A must for people who are given the choice between this movie and slicing the webbing between their fingers with new manila envelopes.