Air Force One

Review by Jason Donner

Harrison Ford is the President of the United States and, when his plane and the movie's namesake, Air Force One, is attacked and held hostage by Russian terrorists, he has to rely on his wits and military training to take the airplane back, lest the terrorists use him against his own people, or his daughter against him.

The thing I like most about it are the moments when you actually find yourself gripping the theater seats over what will happen next.  Thrillers just don't seem to do that very often nowadays and I think that the reason why Air Force One is able to communicate that measure of danger is the fact that accomplished director, Wolfgang Petersen, is at the helm and never once does he assume that the audience is stupid.   Peterson respects the people in the theater seats enough to provide them with believable situations, actions and characters who aren't just muscle-bound idiots who can take thirteen bullets to the chest and keep coming.

This movie is smart enough to revive the old cat-and-mouse plot that Die Hard made famous while mixing it up just enough to keep it from becoming old and derivative.  Wolfgang Petersen has stuffed this movie full of patriotic imagery, beautiful scenery, and a musical score that just makes you want to cheer at every opportunity.

This is the kind of action thriller that sucks you in as soon as the reel starts spinning on the projector.  The characters are people you care about, the danger presents itself fairly early so there's no time to get bored with the exposition, and the action and thrills rarely let up during the movie's entire run.

If Air Force One didn't rely so much on formulas, it would have been perfect, but even with that small fault it is witty, honest, and most importantly, it is fun and that is enough in my book to fully recommend this movie.