Air Force One (1997)
directed by Wolfgang Petersen
starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glen Close, Wendy Crewson, Liesel Matthews, Paul Guilfoyle, Xander Berkeley, William H. Macy, Dean Stockwell, Tom Everett, Jürgen Prochnow, Philip Baker Hall
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MPAA rating: Studio: Beacon Communications, Columbia Pictures Script: Andrew W. Marlowe Music: Jerry Goldsmith Running time: 124 minutes Suggested retail price: $19.95 (US) Tags: Action; airplanes; Politics; Russia; terrorism Tactical strength: [6/10]
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for violence
Terrorists from Kazakhstan take over Air Force One with the president James Marshall (Harrison Ford) and his family on board. Secret service agents quickly usher president Marshall to the emergency escape pod. Everyone, terrorists and Secret Service agents alike, think the President has safely escaped, but the president chooses to surreptitiously remain on board to rescue his family. The president gets in shootouts, fist fights, and cat and mouse games with lone terrorists who wander away from their compatriots. He even engineers the rescue of most of his staff by parachute out the rear loading hatch.
I cannot imagine any real United States president that would choose to remain on the plane in similar circumstances. Maybe we should elect Harrison Ford. Actually, without Harrison Ford, Air Force One would succumb to its collection of clichéd plot elements. I have tried to imagine some other actor that could have played both a convincing president and action hero and couldn't think of a contemporary American actor that would fit the bill.
Once again, director Wolfgang Peterson shows that he knows how to handle suspense and action as well as managing big names like Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman. I have to give credit to script writer Andrew Marlowe for making Oldman's character, Ivan, a realistic terrorist who has no qualms about following through on his threats to kill hostages. Oldman does a pretty good job at portraying the slightly-crazy terrorist, but again, you cannot imagine his role working without Harrison Ford as his nemesis. If you were to replace Ford with some other action actor, Oldman's portrayal as Ivan the terrorist would probably have looked as silly as he did as Dr. Smith in Lost in Space. Glen Close also makes a very convincing vice-president, and we have good performances contributed by Dean Stockwell as the Secretary of Defense and William H. Macy as an Air Force major on the President's staff.
Any movie casting Harrison Ford necessarily has a huge budget. So I don't understand why does the final scene look so obviously computer generated. If you have the budget to cast Ford, you should at least spend the necessary money on computer graphics effects believable. Especially when the effect serves as the pinnacle of the denouement. (If you don't mind a minor spoiler, Air Force One crashes in the ocean in the most obviously computer generated scene since Tron.)
Air Force One provides good action and some suspenseful moments, but after multiple viewings, you find yourself saying, "Oh, sure. Like the president would really have . . ."
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