AIR FORCE ONE (1997)
A Film Review by Jeff Shooman
Copyright 1997 Jeff Shooman
First Impressions: Everything in this film is riveting, from the action to the actors. Wolfgang Petersen's ability to make the obvious suspenseful and his use of the element of surprise are huge pluses. Harrison Ford delivers probably one of his best performances, if not his best performance, ever. A remarkable film.
The plot in AIR FORCE ONE is very simple: A group of Russian psychopaths hijack the President's plane in the effort to secure the release of one Gen. Alexander Radek whose release could spawn the death of hundreds of thousands. If they United States doesn't comply, Oldman will shoot a hostage every half hour.
There is a lot of code and honor involved in this simplistic plot. At one point, Glenn Close's Vice President and all of the cabinet members know that the President is alive, but the question remained whether or not he was legally capable of leading the nation. Under a technicality, it all comes down to whether or not the Vice President will decide to override an order of the President. This scene is very enjoyable and it will make a lot of people think.
Moving on from plot, I've heard that some people think that Wolfgang Petersen's action scenes were sloppy and cheesy and very fake-looking. If this is true, which I doubt it is anyway, I plead ignorance: I thought Mr. Petersen's action scenes, while maybe not up to the standards of such technological extravaganzas such as FACE/OFF or even INDEPENDENCE DAY, he made everything in this film suspenseful and he had me guessing until the end.
Harrison Ford's President is a true family man. He is also a man capable of firing weapons (Uzis) and beating up people, as he was a Medal of Honor winner in Vietnam. He is the ideal President, even shying away from the text of a speech to the dismay of his advisors. Mr. Ford gives this performance more than it needed. He added honor, he added glory, he played it to perfection. I often think Mr. Ford is weak in some of the characters he's played, such as in PRESUMED INNOCENT or even THE FUGITIVE. His presence just didn't leave me with memories like strong performances of DeNiro and Pacino have done. He was a good actor, but not a strong and powerful actor. Now, my opinion chances. The audience feels a bit empty (at least I did) when Mr. Ford is not on screen for when he is on screen, you get this feeling that everything is going to be right. And even knowing that, Petersen still kept me guessing until the end.
This, my friends, was a great movie. Again, as in a lot of movies I've seen this summer, a very micrscopic complaint was that I thought the movie lagged for about 10-15 minutes at the end. But hey, we can't all be perfect.
RATING: ***1/2 out of ****
Questions? Comments? theshoooo@aol.com
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