AIR FORCE ONE (1997) Reviewed by Jerry Saravia Originally viewed on video in 1998
Most action thrillers nowadays rely on countless explosions, dozens of special-effects, wall-to-wall cartoonish violence, and enough gunfire to give Schwarzeneger a headache. The idea is to essentially give the audience a relentless assault on the senses and nothing more; some succeed such as "Mission: Impossible," and others fail like the mediocre "Broken Arrow" and the absurd "Ransom." Then there are the rare, humanistic, character-oriented thrillers like "The Fugitive," the original "Die Hard," and the spectacular "La Femme Nikita" and "The Professional," both directed by action whiz Luc Besson who also helmed the offbeat "The Fifth Element." At least those films offered more than the usual slam-bam-thank-you-mam action. "Air Force One" is exactly what you might expect - explosions and action unashamedly standing in for character and plot.
"Air Force One" is an incredulous thriller; an occasionally exciting yet overbearing, feeble-minded piece where Harrison Ford plays the President of the Unites States as a straight, righteous man with no flaws. As he boards the Air Force One plane, Russian terrorists hijack it and hold all the presidential aides and staff members hostage in exchange for the release of an imprisoned Russian leader (Jurgen Prochnow). Ford is the kind of President who does not believe in negotiating with terrorists, especially not one played by Gary Oldman, so he fights mano-a-mano with them instead (imagine Abraham Lincoln going mano-a-mano with John Wilkes Booth). The First Lady and her daughter are also on the plane, and their lives are in danger if Ford does not comply with the terrorists.
Except for the novelty of having the President as the hero, "Air Force One" is strictly a "Die Hard"/"Under Siege" rip-off taking place on a plane, e.g., "Passenger 57," "Turbulence," and the others before it. There's nothing here that we haven't seen before and, most definitely, better. Harrison Ford makes a decent hero, as always, Gary Oldman is terrifying to watch, and there's a wonderful supporting cast including Glenn Close, Philip Baker Hall, Dean Stockwell, etc. Let's be honest, though: what we have here is a lot of machine gunfire and a high body count as compensation for a threadbare story, and a scenario as ludicrous as the one in Clint Eastwood's "Absolute Power." Close, but no cigar.
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