Starring: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Jurgen Prochnow, Wendy Crewson, Liesel Matthews, Paul Guilfoyle, Xander Berkeley, William H. Macy and Dean Stockwell
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Running time: 117 min.
Description: A terrorist group has taken an entire plane hostage, demanding the release of General Alexander Radek, a vicious tyrant who has been murderously exploiting the remains of a Russia in shambles. Unless their leader is released, the terrorists will begin methodically killing passengers. But if the demands are met and Radek is set free, hundreds of thousands more will certainly die. One man must weigh the fate of his family, who is on board, against the fate of the world. That man is the President of the United States. The plane is Air Force One.
Review: For those that enjoy a good blood soaked action adventure film, Airforce One is certainly one to watch, otherwise this film has very little to offer. It consists of the usual Hollywood cliches. President Marshall is presented as the charismatic, sophisticated and self assured leader, who not only is cable of making powerful unprecedented and impassioned speeches displaying his deeply held beliefs, but this is a man who is also a decorated war veteran and so has the qualifications necessary to put a stop to the terrorists single handed and yet still at the same time shows himself to be a loving husband and caring dedicated father to his daughter - notice any similarities to real life? In other words this man is the all American and very much the ideal president, a perfect representation, a flawless image of who the ‘leader of the free world’ should be.
Even despite this unrelenting drivel that one must expect from these Hollywoo d blockbusters, this film has other draw backs, firstly is the oppressive vi olence of this movie, it is ever present and there seems no end to the cold harsh and glacial brutality. Again and again the viewer is subjected to the sadistic executions which the terrorists carry out as well the all to frequen t deaths of various passengers, the loss of innocent lives in the film is alm ost overlooked and the viewer is expected to celebrate and rejoice in the f inal outcome - which almost goes without saying is as predictable as the ris ing sun in the morning, it is difficult to celebrate after watching this o nslaught of cold blooded killing. Secondly this movie offers us nothing ne w, it is much like other action adventure compilations which Hollywood see ms never to tire of. To expect something new is almost wishful thinking a t this stage, and it looks like we can expect even more of this from them in the future.
Having said this Air Force One is an exciting non stop fist clenching action pact ride. Harrison Ford is excellent and is the perfect person for the role , this president is a man of action and there is no other actor who can mat ch Harrison’s combination of strength and intelligence in this kind of role, he once again proves himself to be the right man for the action adventure m ovie. This film will certainly entertain and will more than likely have you on the edge of your seat. It is a very good movie, as action adventures go.
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