Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Turbulence 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 18, 2024

Robert Butler's "Turbulence" (1997) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by Robert Butler moderated by filmmaker Joe Begos as well as vintage promotional materials for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Even though Turbulence came out at the exact same time Con Air did, which was 1997, these films were not supposed to compete at the box office. In fact, Turbulence was not supposed to be released in 1997. It was scheduled to be released the previous year, for obvious reasons, around Christmas, but several months earlier a Boeing 747 bound for Paris exploded off the coast of Long Island and MGM delayed it. In 1997, Turbulence had a quick and very poor theatrical run, and shortly after was released on DVD. This particular DVD release, which initially was a ‘snapper’ but years later was repressed in a standard DVD case, sold very well and inspired two more similarly-themed films. These films are often described as sequels, but the truth is that they were conceived as copycats that essentially took advantage of the original film’s unexpected success on the home video market.

The prologue is a classic curveball. It is Christmas and Ryan Weaver (Ray Liotta) is seen telling a young and beautiful woman that she means the world to him. But shortly after, at a frozen John F. Kennedy International Airport, Weaver is seen cuffed and transported to a commercial, practically empty plane bound for Los Angeles. Another cuffed character named Stubbs (Brendan Gleeson) is also placed on the same plane. Several bored agents prepare to make the trip as well. Approximately an hour or so later, while using the restroom, Stubbs kills the agent who has been monitoring him, and in the ensuing chaos, he and Waver get rid of the remaining agents and take over the plane. Then Weaver gets rid of Stubbs.

This is the moment where Turbulence switches into idiot mode, and from there, while insulting the intelligence of its audience, slowly begins to self-destruct. Here are the only two crucial developments from the sad transformation:

During the chaos, the two captains operating the plane, a sparkling Boeing 747, are taken out. Meanwhile, Weaver, who has evolved into an unhinged animal, allows one flight attendant (Lauren Holly) to stay with him and locks the remaining survivors in a storage room. In the hours ahead, Weaver, a mass murderer facing execution by lethal injection, reveals his plan to crash the plane, killing as many innocent people as possible, and the flight attendant becomes a hero as she attempts to prevent the tragedy.

The entire second and third acts of Turbulence are so poorly scripted that the overwhelming majority of the material here is extremely easy to describe as parody. To be clear, this is the type of material that cannot be saved with a great polish work because numerous sequences that prepare crucial events, plus many of these events, are quite simply allergic to basic logic.

In the annals of cinema, there are many films like Turbulence and some of them are very entertaining. However, these films always concede that what they show is ridiculous, which is the trick that makes it easy for them to connect with their audience. In Turbulence, there is a lot of pretending that the obvious is not obvious and the audience cannot tell, which is why the bumpy ride to Los Angeles is borderline insulting.

The only redeeming quality of Turbulence is the sporadic footage where the massive plane does things it was not built to do. Predictably, the best of this footage comes at the end, as the plane enters the Los Angeles area.

Robert Butler shot Turbulence with cinematographer Lloyd Ahern II, whose name appears on vastly superior films like Trespass and Last Man Standing, as well as the excellent TV series Hooperman.

Turbulence 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kino Lorber's release of Turbulence is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray is Region-A 'locked".

Please note that some of the screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values of this content.

Screencaptures #1-27 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #30-35 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

I have a very old DVD release of Turbulence in my library, which I had not touched in more than twenty years. I thought about doing a few quick comparisons, but the film is not even presented in the proper aspect ratio on it. But it would have been a total waste of time even if it was, because this Blu-ray release, which is sourced from an exclusive new 4K master struck from the original camera negative, makes the film sparkle and appear brand new. I viewed it with Dolby Vision and like everything that I saw on my system. Delineation, clarity, and depth are outstanding, while fluidity is as good as I have seen on a recent 4K master. Color balance is brilliant. I don't know where the new 4K master was color-graded, or by what party, but all primaries and all supporting nuances look exceptional. A lot of the darker footage from inside the plane looks particularly great, which I do not think is easy because a lot of smaller nuances could have been mismanaged. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections.

I spent some time comparing the native 4K and 1080p presentations. The latter looks great, too. However, if you have a very large screen, I suggest going with the 4K Blu-ray because in a few areas the fast zooms and cuts do not appear as smooth in 1080p. Some encoding optimizations could have been introduced, but I just think that fluidity is noticeably better in native 4K. Everything else looks terrific in 1080p.

Turbulence 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

I viewed the entire film with the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and thought that it was terrific. Turbulence produces a lot of action material, and plenty of this material has dynamic movement of the kind that can test an audio system. There is great surround activity, bass activity, etc. The dialog is always clear, sharp, and easy to follow. I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to report in our review.

Turbulence 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by director Robert Butler and is moderated by filmmaker Joe Begos. Mr. Butler recalls his first encounter with Ray Liotta, which occurred many years before he shot Turbulence, and discusses the homework he did while preparing to do it. Also, there are a lot of interesting comments about the visual style of Turbulence, the special effects in it, and its publicity and reception.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by director Robert Butler and is moderated by filmmaker Joe Begos. Mr. Butler recalls his first encounter with Ray Liotta, which occurred many years before he shot Turbulence, and discusses the homework he did while preparing to do it. Also, there are a lot of interesting comments about the visual style of Turbulence, the special effects in it, and its publicity and reception.

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage U.S. trailer for Turbulence. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• TV Spots - presented here are several vintage U.S. TV spots for Turbulence. In English, not subtitled. (4 min).

• Radio Spot - presented here is a vintage U.S. radio spots for Turbulence. In English, not subtitled. (1 min).

Turbulence 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Turbulence is allergic to logic, and this is the source of everything that does not work in it, which is a lot. It looks pretty at times, but all of its pretending that it is a serious film is beyond exhausting. I purchased Turbulence on DVD a long time ago, but had not revisited it in over twenty years. I did last night and think that it looks stunning on 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray, so if it is one of your guilty pleasures, this combo pack will make you ecstatic. RECOMMENDED only to the fans.