Ford Still Has the Force
"Air Force One"
Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Columbia Pictures, rel. 7-25-97
review by Mike Rizzo
It's a curious comment on the state of Hollywood that the most realistic action hero offered up in any of this year's summer blockbusters is the President of the United States. Judging from "Air Force One"'s opening weekend box office, we as an audience, even in this modern age of cynicism and distrust of our nation's leaders, are more than willing to believe that the President would defend himself, his family, and his country with his fists as easily as he would with military strikes and smart bombs. Why? Two words: Harrison Ford. In "Air Force One", Ford adds to his mile-long list of action fits while giving the audience a two-hour lesson in star power. The setup of "Air Force One" is fairly easy to follow. An allied group of U.S. and Russian commandos raid the Presidential Palace of Khazakhstan, overthrowing and imprisoning the hard-line Khazakhstani Communist leader, General Radek. U.S. President Marshall(Ford), at a banquet in Moscow, follows this with a speech condemning Radek's brutality, replete with a vow to fight terrorism throughout the world. Ford makes a stately and noble chief executive; he embarks on this new policy, not because his re-election campaign is coming up, but because, "It's the right thing to do." Once again, an idealism that we as Americans wish our leaders still had. After the banquet, Ford retires to his plane, the actual AFO, for the flight home with his wife(Wendy Crewson) and daughter(Liesel Matthews). We see the president as a doting father and loving husband, and a football fanatic who'd rather watch the game with a beer than sit through another policy meeting; we see the President as an average guy. Unbeknownst to him and everyone else on board, however, a group of Russian terrorists, led by psycho extraordinaire Gary Oldman, have boarded the plane with the aid of a duplicitous Secret Service agent, disguised as a news crew on a press tour. Of course, the terrorists take over the plane, kill a few people, and go looking for the President; they want him to influence the Russian president to release Radek. Before Oldman and company can get to him, the Secret Service whisk Ford off to his Presidential escape pod. Believing that the Prez has escaped, Oldman goes to Plan B. He uses AFO's communications system to contact Washington, and informs Vice President Glenn Close that he intends to kill a hostage every half hour until Radek is released. Predictably, the Cabinet is in disarray. Close squabbles with the Scretary of Defense (Dean Stockwell)over authority; a humorous moment arises when the Cabinet can't find a copy of the Constitution to figure out wh exactly is in charge. They know something that Oldman doesn't: Ford wasn't in the escape pod. Unfortunately, they don't know if he's alive or dead, so they also don't know if he's still the President. This is where the action begins in earnest. Ford sneaks around the underneath of the plane, trying to figure out a way to save his family and the other hostages. Soon, Oldman notices that he's losing men, and begins looking for whoever is attempting to foul up his plans. Much of the film from this point feels like a high-stakes version of "Die Hard" on an airplane, and it is, but "Air Force One" is also complex, well-acted, and its action scenes will leave you breathless. Oldman gives the film an intense, brooding energy as the buzz-cut psycho leading the hijacking, alternately exuding justifying ideology, uncontrollable rage, and cool, collected malevolence. His telephone conversations with Close are chilling. He is every bit as solid and contolled here as he was outlandish in "The Fifth Element"; this film loses a little steam with his demise. Close is a convincing VP, all nerves as she attempts to sort out the mess while defending the President's course of action. "Fargo" Oscar nominee William H. Macy lends a hand as an Air Force officer who aids the President in retaking the plane. The real stars, though, other than Ford, are director Wolfgang Petersen and the model AFO he has created. Petersen's trademark claustrophobic action (I recently read a review which referred the film as "Das Plane") is in good effect here; it's a surprise Bruce Willis hasn't sought out Petersen. The tense action and fantastic in-air effects (Check out the exploding fuel tanker and the fighter plane battle. Only one of the effects shots doesn't work - you'll know which one when you see it...) help Petersen overcome a somewhat implausible, often corny script by first-time Screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe. Even with all of this going on around him, though, everything centers on Ford. He is worth every penny of his reported $20 million salary in this, his best actioner since "The Fugitive" and his return, after the disappointing grosses of "Sabrina" and "The Devil's Own", to the box-office throne to which he is accustomed. One amusing final note: A friend with whom I saw "Air Force One" couldn't understand why everyone in the film spoke so reverentially of Ford's President Marshall. I have no doubt that if Harrison Ford himself were President, he'd receive the same reverence.
Stars: A Plot: B+ Direction/Effects: A Script: B-
Overall: A-
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