Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Last Plane Out Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 5, 2017

David Nelson's "Last Plane Out" (1983) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Code Red DVD. The only bonus feature on the disc is a gallery with trailers for other catalog releases. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The American

I think that five or ten years from now someone will make a film that tells the same story that David Nelson’s Last Plane Out does. The faces will be different and this time the location will be Venezuela, but the rest will be the same. Mark my words, this ‘new’ film is coming.

Jan-Michael Vincent is Jack Cox, a handsome reporter from Texas who is sent to Nicaragua to interview his old pal General Somoza (Lloyd Battista, Chisum), as the country is on the verge of a total collapse, and possibly some of his most prominent opponents. Jack is accompanied by two assistants, one of them instructed to keep a close eye on his work so that later on he can vouch in front of some bigwigs that he was as objective as possible. Almost immediately after they land in Managua, however, it begins to look like they might be a week or two late -- the airport can no longer function properly while Somoza’s men and the Sandinistas have literally transformed the city into a giant battlefield. Nevertheless, Jack and his assistants reach a once prestigious hotel where an old local contact agrees to help him meet Somoza. By the time Jack arrives in the heavily guarded base where Somoza is destroying piles of documents so that they never end up in the hands of the Sandinistas, it is already clear that it is only a matter of hours before the military surrenders. Someone then warns Jack that there will be only one more plane that will take a limited number of foreigners and government officials to Miami and that it is truly the one and only chance the Americans will get to leave the country alive. Meanwhile, the Sandinistas dispatch Maria Cardena (Julie Carmen, Blue City), a dangerous beauty who once had a short affair with Jack, to make sure that the Americans do not get on the plane.

The odd thing about Last Plane Out is that its most effective parts are the most chaotic ones. Indeed, the carefully scripted material where Jack engages in conversations with Somoza and the Sandinistas are actually average at best. Both sides tend to overdramatize the descriptions of their political goals and when they do it the credibility instantly begins to suffer. On the other hand, the unpolished material where people are seen flocking to the airport and then the parts where the city appears in total disarray looks as it has been taken from a recent video report from Venezuela. The tension and chaos on display look very, very authentic.

The nature of the big conflict is summed up perfectly in a couple of sentences halfway through the film. The rise of the Sandinistas is credited to the failed regional policy of powerful statesmen in Washington who had concluded that there would be far more to lose by openly protecting the local regime than allowing the country to fall in the hands of the Sandinistas. In the 70s, this is pretty much exactly what happened after the Carter administration made a series of strategic mistakes that actually had lasting effects on the entire region.

Ultimately, however, Last Plane Out should not be regarded as anything more than an exotic B-film that is best to see in the wee hours of the night. The film works, but by the time its final credits roll there is a very good chance that you already will have a difficult time remembering how it actually started.

Last Plane Out Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, David Nelson's Last Plane Out arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Code Red DVD.

According to its producers, the release was sourced from a brand new master that was created from the only surviving film elements. It is actually very easy to tell that the master is recent because despite various limitations -- such as density fluctuations, some light fading, and light blemishes and specks -- plenty of organic qualities with good consistency are actually retained. I don't know what elements were used, but if I had to speculate I would say that they are at least a generation or two away from the OCN, and that they they have not aged particularly well. Still, although detail, clarity, and especially depth should be better, the visuals are never distracting or intolerable; occasionally it is simply easy to see some obvious signs of aging. The best news here is that there are no traces of poor digital corrections. Image stability is also very good. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Last Plane Out Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided for the main feature.

The audio has not been fully remastered, and there is certainly room for improvements that would have made clarity and balance a lot more convincing. On the other hand, the film's original sound design is clearly far from impressive, and during transitions between the action sequences and the indoor footage where different conversations are held it is very easy to tell. For these reasons, optional English SDH subtitles should have been included on the release.

Last Plane Out Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - a collection of trailers for different Code Red DVD releases.

Last Plane Out Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Despite having modest ambitions David Nelson's action thriller Last Plane Out manages to be quite entertaining and informative at the same time. It also has a decent period ambience, though it frequently shows that its creators worked with a small budget. Frankly, I wanted to see the film because I like Jan-Michael Vincent, and when the final credits rolled I think that I got exactly the type of late-night entertainment that I expected. The Blu-ray release is sourced from a recent master with some obvious limitations, but given the fact that it was prepared from the only surviving materials, which apparently are not in great shape, I think that the technical presentation is actually quite good. RECOMMENDED.