EXECUTIVE DECISION
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 1996 Christopher Null
For those action film fans who think that Steven Seagal is indestructible, I highly recommend you see EXECUTIVE DECISION, a cheese-o-rama of an action flick that gives Seagal *seventh* billing and a quick ride to Action Hero Heaven.
No, this is *not* a "Steven Seagal Movie." It's a "Kurt Russell Movie"--the New Kurt Russell, the tough-yet-vulnerable Kurt Russell, the Kurt Russell a la Bruce Willis-type with whom we're about to be deluged, like it or not (answer: probably not).
The story of EXECUTIVE DECISION is easy to boil down: another rehashing of DIE HARD, on an airplane for the first time since PASSENGER 57. This outing, Seagal, Russell, John Leguizamo, and Oliver Platt head a team of scrappy commandos and less-warlike people who board a 747 in mid-flight to stop a nerve gas bomb from detonating over Washington and wiping out the Eastern seaboard. This, apparently, is what terrorists do for kicks.
It could've been fun. It's been done, yes, but a fresh take on the hostage story can be exciting, and at times, EXECUTIVE DECISION is edge-of-your-seat material. The problem, and it shouldn't exist, is that for the entire first *hour* of this film, it is the most hideously boring, lifeless, repetitive, derivative, and pointless bit of celluloid you can imagine. Clocking in at a whopping 2 hours, 20 minutes, this picture had *plenty* which could have been cut out but wasn't, resulting in a whole lot of catching up to do in the last hour.
Thank God that the catch-up is pretty fun--but still, putting the audience to sleep at the beginning of the movie is a violation of the cardinal rule of action filmmaking.
If you're wondering about the acting, dialogue, etc.--don't. They're all typically cheese-infested (Seagal's character is actually, and I am not making this up, named "Austin Travis"). Instead, if you go to EXECUTIVE DECISION, sit back and try to enjoy the explosions and high-tech gadgetry. But more importantly, try to get there late.
RATING: **1/2
\-------------------------------\ |* Unquestionably awful | |** Sub-par on many levels | |*** Average, hits and misses | |**** Good, memorable film | |***** Perfection | \-------------------------------\
-Christopher Null / null@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu -Screenwriter / Novelist / Publisher -Visit the Movie Emporium at http://cca2.carrington.com/emporium/ -and e-mail requests to join the movie review mailing list
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