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Turbulence

 Turbulence
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TVTItem
 Turbulence
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Turbulence
 Turbulence
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Turbulence
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Turbulence is a 1997 American disaster action thriller film directed by Robert Butler and starring Ray Liotta, Lauren Holly, Héctor Elizondo, Rachel Ticotin, Ben Cross, Brendan Gleeson, and Jeffrey DeMunn.After being arrested in New York for a murder that he says he didn't commit, Ryan Weaver (Liotta) must be extradited to Los Angeles to face trial. He and another prisoner, Stubbs (Gleeson), are escorted by four US marshals on a commercial flight aboard a Boeing 747, which – in spite of it being Christmas Eve – is nearly empty, with only eleven people on board.During the flight, Stubbs breaks free and begins a shootout with the marshals. Amidst the chaos, and before Stubbs ends up shot dead himself, both the pilot and co-pilot are killed and a stray bullet puts a hole in a window. Because of the death of the pilots, Teri Halloran (Holly), a stewardess, makes her way into the cockpit and learns she is the only one left capable of keeping the 747 from crashing. To make matters worse, the plane is heading for a Category 6 storm.Meanwhile, Weaver, who freed himself during the shootout, unsuccessfully attempts to save the last remaining marshal and appears to be horrified by the ordeal, increasing the passengers' trust in him. However, his behavior becomes increasingly erratic, having severe nervous breakdowns, and seemingly not being after all the nice guy he said to be...The film did well enough on home video to become a trilogy with two Direct to Video sequels. They are Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying (1999) and Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal (2001), each with a different cast.
 Turbulence
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2023-06-21T16:58:24Z
 Turbulence
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2023-06-21T16:58:24Z
 Turbulence
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DBTropes
 Turbulence / int_143939c1
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Trailers Always Spoil
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Trailers Always Spoil: While the film itself plays a guessing game for the first half hour or so whether Weaver is guilty, anyone who saw the trailer before the film will know Weaver is Az Crazy.
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 Turbulence / int_213dc284
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Closest Thing We Got
 Turbulence / int_213dc284
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Closest Thing We Got: Teri as an airplane pilot once the captain and the first officer are killed in flight.
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 Turbulence / int_22cf536c
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Chekhov's Gun
 Turbulence / int_22cf536c
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Chekhov's Gun: A literal example. Captain Powell forces the marshals to turn over any weapons not on their manifest to keep in the cockpit. One marshal then turns over a back-up revolver that Powell takes with him. Teri ends up using that gun to kill Weaver in the climax. Due to the gun being unloaded, she loses most of the bullets and has to make one shot count.
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 Turbulence / int_2764d432
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Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
 Turbulence / int_2764d432
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Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ryan Weaver starts off seeming to have everyone's best interests in mind and trying to defuse the standoff between Stubbs and the U.S. Marshall. He reveals he's nuts pretty quickly afterwards.
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 Turbulence / int_2d4fa515
type
Ax-Crazy
 Turbulence / int_2d4fa515
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Ax-Crazy: Weaver once he reveals his true colors. Also Stubbs, who kills one of the U.S. Marshals with a piece from the aircraft toilet's sink and ends up accidentally killing the pilot.
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 Turbulence / int_2dc0d2bf
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Hidden Depths
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Hidden Depths: Teri manages to kill Weaver by herself, and also lands the plane with the help of ground control and an English pilot (Ben Cross) who guides her through the landing procedures and flying the plane.
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 Turbulence / int_53f5119f
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The Dragon
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The Dragon: Stubbs, albeit unknown to him. When Stubbs tries to take over the plane, Weaver allows him to kill off most of the U.S. Marshals before shooting Stubbs himself when Stubbs tries to shove the last marshal out of the boarding door IN FLIGHT, all to initially appear heroic. Stubbs even kills the last marshal for Weaver out of muscle reflex after Weaver shoots him.
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 Turbulence / int_61996785
type
Sacrificial Lamb
 Turbulence / int_61996785
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Sacrificial Lamb: Maggie is strangled by Weaver at the midway point to drive home how psychotic and Ax-Crazy Weaver is.
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 Turbulence / int_7301ae04
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Serial Killer
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Serial Killer: Ryan Weaver is indeed guilty of being the "Lonely Hearts Killer."
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 Turbulence / int_77414bc2
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Action Prologue
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Action Prologue: The film opens with the arrest of Ryan Weaver.
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 Turbulence / int_786d6cf6
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You Wouldn't Shoot Me
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You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Weaver believes this of Teri. He's wrong.
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 Turbulence / int_7fbb2a3
type
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!
 Turbulence / int_7fbb2a3
comment
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Raines framing of Weaver has driven him so over the edge that once Teri is the only person left to handle the plane, he decides he's going to get rid of her and crash it into LAX for maximum carnage.
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 Turbulence / int_8494bcb3
type
Disposable Pilot
 Turbulence / int_8494bcb3
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Disposable Pilot: The pilot and co-pilot are the first ones to go down when Stubbs begins his shootout.
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 Turbulence / int_863fa679
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What Happened to the Mouse?
 Turbulence / int_863fa679
comment
What Happened to the Mouse?: It's never explained whether The first officer died from head trauma when his head hit the console or Weaver finished him off to make it easier to take control of the plane and crash it. He's still breathing when Weaver goes to the cockpit in the aftermath of Stubbs' rampage, but Weaver never admits killing him.
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 Turbulence / int_898ff050
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Villain Protagonist
 Turbulence / int_898ff050
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Villain Protagonist: Played with. Ray Liotta is top billed, and he's definitely not a hero in this.
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1.0
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 Turbulence / int_8d0785d5
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Didn't Think This Through
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Didn't Think This Through: If his overall goal was to crash the plane into LAZ, Weaver would have been much more successful in doing so if he'd played nice and completely ingratiated himself to Teri, as she might have even brought him into the cockpit, putting him in a prime place to do what he wanted before she stopped him. Instead, he kills her friend Maggie and goes completely Ax-Crazy, putting Teri totally on her guard and ready to do whatever she has to do to stop him.
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 Turbulence / int_90e31482
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Laser-Guided Karma
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Laser-Guided Karma: After spending the entire movie trying to assault Teri, Weaver gets killed by her.
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Turbulence / int_90e31482
 Turbulence / int_928ca2cc
type
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness
 Turbulence / int_928ca2cc
comment
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once Stubbs goes on a rampage and kills all the U.S. Marshal's Weaver takes the opportunity to kill him to make himself look like a hero to Teri so he can ingratiate himself to her.
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 Turbulence / int_95b7c400
type
Faux Affably Evil
 Turbulence / int_95b7c400
comment
Faux Affably Evil: Weaver is a Serial Killer with a particular penchant for trying to look like a nice guy and having Seinfeldian Conversations about films (so his victims will tell him hints that he will use for a Hannibal Lecture).
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 Turbulence / int_970c790a
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Big Bad
 Turbulence / int_970c790a
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Big Bad: Ryan Weaver.
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 Turbulence / int_99c36bb5
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Ironic Nursery Tune
 Turbulence / int_99c36bb5
comment
Ironic Nursery Tune: After the serial killer breaks loose and (supposedly) kills everyone on the plane except the flight attendant Teri, he stalks after her while gently singing "Buffalo Sally, won'tcha come out tonight, come out tonight, ..."
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 Turbulence / int_acf33d00
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Nice Job Fixing It, Villain
 Turbulence / int_acf33d00
comment
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Weaver would have gone a long way to achieving his endgame of crashing the plane into LAX if he'd kept up his nice guy act for longer and ingratiated himself completely to Teri. But he can't help himself, and Teri is shown very quickly after the shootout how disturbed he is when he drags the pilot's corpse down the hallway while singing "Jingle Bells."
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 Turbulence / int_ad4c74ed
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Final Girl
 Turbulence / int_ad4c74ed
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Final Girl: Teri ends up having to take the serial killer down alone in the climax. Slight variant on this trope in that a) after she dispatches the serial killer, she still has to land the plane, and b) the rest of the passengers of the plane weren't killed, but actually put on the cargo hold (although the killer lied and said that he killed them all).
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 Turbulence / int_b3fc9d55
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An Ass-Kicking Christmas
 Turbulence / int_b3fc9d55
comment
An Asskicking Christmas: It's bullets, Crash Course Landings and Ray Liotta hamming it up on Christmas Eve.
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 Turbulence / int_b58b4e3c
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Too Dumb to Live
 Turbulence / int_b58b4e3c
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Too Dumb to Live: Once Weaver convinces the last marshal to give up his gun (Stubbs is holding Teri at gunpoint) Stubbs decides to kill the last marshal by opening the boarding door and shoving him out, in spite of the protests of Teri, Maggie, AND Weaver, who try to explain what a repeatedly what a fucking moronic idea that is. When Stubbs refuses to listen, he gives Weaver a prime opportunity to shoot him and temporarily make himself look like a hero.
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 Turbulence / int_b87ae3ba
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Crash Course Landing
 Turbulence / int_b87ae3ba
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Crash Course Landing: After the pilot and co-pilot are killed by Stubbs' rampage, flight attendant Teri has to land the plane. And fend off Ax-Crazy Weaver
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 Turbulence / int_c3585f4a
type
Boom, Headshot!
 Turbulence / int_c3585f4a
comment
Boom, Headshot!: Teri takes Weaver down this way.
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 Turbulence / int_c3c18143
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Hope Spot
 Turbulence / int_c3c18143
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Hope Spot: Teri's all ready to land, then Weaver destroys the autopilot software, forcing Teri back into the air for another try.
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 Turbulence / int_c40c8b74
type
And Starring
 Turbulence / int_c40c8b74
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And Starring: Héctor Elizondo gets the "And" credit.
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 Turbulence / int_c93a6560
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Impaled with Extreme Prejudice
 Turbulence / int_c93a6560
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Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Arquette gets stabbed in the throat by Stubbs to Stubbs can steal his more powerful sidearm.
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 Turbulence / int_caf89e54
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Taking You with Me
 Turbulence / int_caf89e54
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Taking You with Me: Weaver's plan to fly the plane into LAX would have the secondhand benefit of killing Raines, who's at LAX air traffic control trying to give Teri insight on Weaver. For that matter, Teri herself, after she proves she's not going down without a fight.
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 Turbulence / int_ce1c73e2
type
Just Plane Wrong
 Turbulence / int_ce1c73e2
comment
Just Plane Wrong: A 747 can not fly inverted. Its engines will flame out from fuel starvation. The autopilot disengages when pressure is lost, then reengages when the hole is plugged. Autopilot does not work like that. The cabin door of a 747 is designed specifically to be virtually impossible to open in-flight. When cabin air pressure is lost, most of the oxygen masks fail to drop. When the hull is breached, the pilot declares an emergency over the radio and requests permission to descend, which is denied. The correct procedure is to descend, then tell air traffic control what is going on so they can direct other aircraft and keep the way clear.
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 Turbulence / int_d0c30f35
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Did I Mention It's Christmas?
 Turbulence / int_d0c30f35
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Did I Mention It's Christmas?: The entire plane is highly decorated with Christmas trees and other decorations, like lights, wreaths and mistletoes (which made Roger Ebert wonder in his review if somebody had ever seen Christmas decorations inside a plane), but the fact that it's Christmas Eve doesn't factor into the plot (conspiciously, the plane only has a dozen passengers, but it isn't made clear whether that has something or not to do with the holidays).
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 Turbulence / int_d0f0a80d
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One-Word Title
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One-Word Title: Naturally.
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 Turbulence / int_dbca2c99
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Red Herring
 Turbulence / int_dbca2c99
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Red Herring: In the opening. Raines describes Weaver's "Type" (a petite blonde) before revealing when he's arrested in the beginning that he's dating a brunette woman. That and the reveal that Raines planted evidence to convict him is clearly meant to keep the audience guessing whether or not Weaver IS innocent. The script doesn't keep up the facade much longer after Stubbs and the marshals are killed, however.
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 Turbulence / int_dca70c44
type
Reasonable Authority Figure
 Turbulence / int_dca70c44
comment
Reasonable Authority Figure: While he planted evidence, Hines is this, and gets Teri to be on her guard around Weaver, which saves her life.
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 Turbulence / int_eb251937
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Dirty Cop
 Turbulence / int_eb251937
comment
Dirty Cop: Played with. Lt. Aldo Hines knew Weaver was guilty, but didn't have the evidence to convict him so he planted evidence to get Weaver convicted. He's also presented as a bit of a publicity hound and gets excited when one of the other detectives in his division tells him someone wants him for an interview, only to laugh and reveal it's a joke.
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 Turbulence / int_eb81c601
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Big Damn Heroes
 Turbulence / int_eb81c601
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Big Damn Heroes: Teri ends up shooting Weaver to death before landing the plane.
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 Turbulence / int_eb8e4fa8
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Jerkass
 Turbulence / int_eb8e4fa8
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Jerkass: Weaver strangles Maggie, wants to assault Teri, and has every intention of making sure he crashes the plane at LAX for the maximum damage.
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 Turbulence / int_f13a0451
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Suicide Attack
 Turbulence / int_f13a0451
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Suicide Attack: Weaver plans to crash the plane in LAX and kill himself and everyone else he can rather than go to prison.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Turbulence
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Crash Course Landing / int_8f0f708d
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"Die Hard" on an X / int_8f0f708d
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Films of 1995–1999 / int_8f0f708d
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Ironic Nursery Tune / int_8f0f708d