Air Force One (1997)

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It’s been a long while since this movie was released, but I was really impressed. It’s a good action flick that holds your attention and manages to really get you to care about the characters and what happens to them. Naturally, this is not difficult when the main role is played by Harrison Ford. There is something about this man that is magical—he smiles, and you feel relieved; he’s angry, and you are suddenly overwhelmed with the injustice he’s up against; he fires a gun and you cheer. Part of it is the rugged good looks but it really boils down to the fact that he’s an immensely talented actor who chooses great roles.

Air Force One has him as the President who is on the presidential plane with his family and some of his advisors when it is hijacked and threatened. I’m not going to go into the depths of the plot now (all right, it's b/c I saw this movie two weeks ago and since then I saw The Sum of All Fears and I can’t get it all straight), but suffice it to say I feel the actual bad guys are relatively unimportant. A small group of Russian terrorists hold the plane hostage in an attempt to get the Russian gov’t to release their leader from jail—blah, blah. The reason I feel so blasé about the details is that what really makes this plot move is every moment, every scene, and every obstacle the characters must overcome. Of course, every movie relies on a series of obstacles that the characters must overcome, but rarely in action flicks is this ever achieved so smoothly—with the conclusion of each problem, you are already deeply embedded in the next. It really reminds me of Speed, where you were on the edge of your seat from the first five minutes until the last five minutes. This doesn’t have quite the same velocity that Speed did, but with that it carries some more believability and likeability.

The only problem I had with this movie was with the good-guy-who-turned-out-to- be-the-bad-guy (don’t worry, it happens early in the movie, I’m not giving anything away). I just didn’t understand his motivation. However, there were some excellent performances from Ford’s other supporting cast: his family was the perfect first family, some very believable bad guys, and I just love William H. Macy no matter how small his roles are. Especially notable was Glenn Close as the Vice President; she was amazing in displaying the immense challenge set before her with the onset of the hijacking and the sudden responsibility, decisions, and pressure that she faced. It was unfortunate she didn’t interact with the President more; their relationship was difficult to believe because they didn’t have any scenes together to build rapport; her performance, however, matched Ford’s easily.