Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		1.5

Soul Plane Blu-ray Movie Review

Jive flyin'.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 25, 2015

“Oh, stewardess, I speak jive.”

For baby boomers at least, one of the highlights of the supremely silly Airplane! was the sight of one erstwhile June Cleaver, the always immaculately clad and imperturbably polite Barbara Billingsley, uttering that classic line in a scene where two black men are experiencing discomfort on a flight but can’t be understood due to their patois. Soul Plane takes a page both from Airplane! generally and this “jive talkin’” vignette specifically in an occasionally amusing but mostly just noisy outing that sees a sad sack African American man named Nashwan Wade (Kevin Hart) experience a flight from hell, one where his posterior is suction cupped into a toilet midflight (in an impossibly luxe and huge airplane restroom) and his pet dog, consigned to the luggage compartment, is ejected from the hold and shredded to smithereens in the jet engine (something Nashawn is able to witness because this airplane bathroom has a window). Injured both physically and emotionally, Nashawn sues the airline and comes out a big winner, with enough of a nest egg to start his own company—NWA (that’s Nashawn Wade Airlines, though the silly reference is actually one of the film’s better laughs). Nashawn’s business model caters to black folks, and the maiden flight of NWA is supposedly poised to be a hip hop party of epic proportions. Surely Nashawn is about to experience yet another flight from hell, and, no, I won’t stop calling him Shirley.

Part of the fun of Airplane! is how it relentlessly skewered the overly serious demeanor of disaster films like Airport, while also throwing so many gags at the viewer with such alacrity that at least some jokes were bound to “land” (no pun intended). The problem with Soul Plane is that it seems to be skewering Airplane! itself, something that gives the film a weird, dissociative ersatz quality that is probably only exacerbated by some less than stellar writing and some frankly fairly unfunny putative “humor.”

The first (overly long) portion of Soul Plane details Nashawn’s unfortunate loo accident and the demise of his dog, as well as the ensuing court case. Weirdly, Chuck Wilson and Bo Zenga’s screenplay almost goes for a bit of real human emotion during the trial when Nashawn spills his guts about his wayward life up until the flying calamity. This of course is only a momentary detour from what is Soul Plane’s stock in trade, namely a raucous sensibility that is decidedly politically incorrect but unfortunately all too rarely laugh out loud hilarious. Even more unfortunate is the fact that this opening act, while a bit slow, is easily the funniest part of the film. Once NWA is airborn, most of the jokes go over like that veritable lead balloon.

Unlike Airplane!, Soul Plane tends to spend a bit more time with the actual passengers than with the crew, though one running gag has this flight’s Captain Antoine Mack (Snoop Dogg) attempting to overcome his seemingly debilitating acrophobia. Stewardess Blanca (Sofia Vergara) also gets into the shenanigans, especially when the film follows good old disaster movie tropes and requires a “civilian” to land the plane. But much of the rest of the “plot” (such as it is) revolves around various vignettes focusing on various passengers, including the flight’s only white family, the Hunkeys (think about it, but not too hard). Any film that offers Tom Arnold (as Elvis Hunkey) as one of the more restrained performers certainly deserves some sort of kudos.

Hart is on record as stating Soul Plane is the property which put him on the map strongly enough to really jump start his standup career, and he does offer a generally appealing presence. Unfortunately the film is just so unabashedly stupid (but not in a good way) that it undercuts any charms the hard working cast attempts to bring to the project. This is one flight which should have never left the hangar.

Soul Plane Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Soul Plane is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.84:1. Hart made some news at the time of the film's release by stating that bootlegging had really cut into the film's prospective box office, and some watching this generally commendable if occasionally problematic presentation may wonder if a few of those illicit elements somehow got stitched into the source materials for this offering. On the whole, this is actually one of the nicer looking catalog releases we've seen from Olive, with good to excellent clarity and sharpness, and an appealing and natural looking palette. The film's long "nightclub" sequence, one which takes up a huge portion of the film's second half, is bathed in deep blues and detail is noticeably minimized during these sections. From time to time sharpness is also somewhat variable, as is grain resolution, which varies from finely resolved to clumpy and noisy looking. Aside from these transitory anomalies, things look quite good, with very little in the way of age related wear and tear in either of the versions offered on this Blu-ray.

Soul Plane Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both versions of Soul Plane included on this Blu-ray sport nicely active DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes. There are a glut of at times silly sound effects as well as some thump worthy tunes that exploit the low end quite effectively. While dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented, there are occasional slight prioritization problems, especially in the somewhat noisy party sequences. Fidelity is fine and dynamic range very wide for a comedy.

Soul Plane Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical (1080p; 1:26:48) and Unrated (1080p; 1:32:22) Versions of the film are included.


• Survivor Safety (1080p; 1:41) is the little quasi musical video that plays in the background of one scene in the film. Something tells me that's not actually Sofia Vergara singing.


• Boarding Pass - The Making of Soul Plane (1080p; 25:30) is a decent piece, replete with scenes from the film and interviews. The interview segments look like they may have been upscaled from some problematic video sources.


• Outtakes (1080p; 1:56)


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 8:18)


• Frequent Flyer (1080p; 6:11) offers some helpful suggestions about how various cast members would improve air travel.


• The Upgrade - Director Jessy Terrero (1080p; 5:26) profiles the director, but has some good behind the scenes footage included.


• Cast Audio Commentary is available on the Theatrical Version only.

Soul Plane Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hart fans may get enough of a kick out of Soul Plane to consider checking it out, but even they may find their patience stretched thin by too many gags that just go nowhere, not to mention a relentlessly raucous energy level that unfortunately too infrequently pays actual comedic dividends. Technical merits are generally strong and the supplemental package well stocked for those considering a purchase.