Air Force One 1997 Film Starring Harrison Ford
The World's Most Secure Aircraft is Hijacked by Terrorists
Oct 13, 2009
Air Force One is a 1997 action film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and stars Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman. It is set onboard the President’s aircraft Air Force One, and features Glenn Close as the Vice President. Apparently the then-President Bill Clinton saw the film and gave it positive reviews; however, he did state that some of the features seen in the film don’t actually exist on the real Air Force One.
Welcome Aboard
Air Force One opens with a daring night time raid by Special Forces to capture tyrannical ruler of Kazakhstan, General Ivan Radek (Jürgen Prochnow). The raid was done in cooperation with American Forces and the President of the United States James Marshall (Harrison Ford)
Later, Marshall makes a speech in Moscow in which he explains that he aided in the capture of Radek but only after he threatened American interests. Marshall also states that from now on America will take on a more offensive role against global terrorism.
That night, Air Force One flies the President, along with his wife Grace (Wendy Crewson) and daughter Alice (Liesel Matthews) home. He is joined by various government officials and secret service agents. During the long flight Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman) along with a group loyal to Radek, and with help of a mole inside the secret service, take control of the plane. Two secret service agents get the President to the plane’s emergency escape pod and seemingly get him off the aircraft.
Meanwhile on the ground in Washington, Vice President Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close) negotiates with Ivan who wants Radek released or he will begin executing hostages. Soon afterwards the pod is recovered but the President is not onboard.
Tense Action Thriller
Gary Oldman steals the show as the leader of the ruthless terrorists that take over Air Force One. He is the worst kind of terrorist because he truly believes in his cause, which is basically, America is a great evil and General Radek will lead his people to glory. Oldman is an exceptional bad guy who manages to walk the line between being a cold blooded executioner and a charming man who tries to convince others why he is doing what he is doing.
Harrison Ford is well suited to play his opposite. President Marshall was a former fighter pilot and knows how to fight. Marshall has no problem with dispatching any terrorists in his way as he tries to retake the plane and get his family to safety. It makes a change to see someone in authority doing what needs to be done themselves instead of hiding behind a desk or a wall of security personnel.
For the most part Air Force One is an excellent action film with the added twist that the hero battling the terrorists is a political figure that traditionally people would not consider to be a fighter. Even now it would be difficult for the audience to imagine the President battling terrorists one by one. Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman play characters on opposite ends of the scale; Marshall believes that Radek is a terrorist whilst Ivan believes that America is a mass murderer. Ford is able to make his audience cheer but his performance may bring a tear to the eye as Ivan threatens to execute his daughter before his eyes.
The areal sequences are impressive and it is most of the time it is not clear whether the sequences were filmed using actual planes, models or CGI. Unfortunately, there is a moment towards the end when the audience witness an incredibly poor CGI plane which is so obvious that it does steal a lot of the realism.
Generally Air Force One is an excellent take on a hostage drama with ample supplies of action and dazzling aerial sequences. Although, the blatantly obvious CGI plane is a big negative. However, if the audience can look past that then they should enjoy a tense thriller with exceptional performances from Ford and Oldman.
3/5
Great take on the hostage film genre, but Petersen really should have cut the poor CGI plane.
 |
