Air Force One Review
by Chuck Dowling (chuckd21 AT southeast DOT net)August 4th, 1997
AIR FORCE ONE
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1997 Chuck Dowling
Air Force One (1997) **1/2 out of ***** - Cast: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman,
Wendy Crewson, Glenn Close, Dean Stockwell, William H. Macy, Xander
Berkeley, Jurgen Prochnow. Written by: Andrew W. Marlowe. Directed by:
Wolfgang Petersen. Running Time: 118 minutes.
Have you seen a film from 1988 called "Die Hard"? If you did, then you've
seen "Air Force One". Surely first time screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe saw
it, as this movie seems to follow that film's formula to the letter, sadly
without adding anything really new to the concept.
In "Air Force One", career good guy Harrison Ford is President James
Marshall. After giving a passionate speech in Russia about how terrorism
will no longer be tolerated (a speech which oddly causes his staff to
cringe, as they actually believe it can be used AGAINST him in the next
election), he boards Air Force One and heads for home. Unfortunately, a
small group of Russian terrorists "disguised" as journalists (led by career
bad guy Gary Oldman) hijacks the plane and threatens to kill a hostage every
half hour unless a communist General (a cameo by Jurgen Prochnow of
Petersen's "Das Boot") is released from captivity.
I've yet to understand Hollywood's fascination with the President of the
United States as a main movie character. Furthermore, I've yet to understand
the paradox in which Hollywood presents such a character to us. In films
where the audience is required to love the character of the president, the
filmmakers go above and beyond to make him someone who we will all like. For
example, look at movies like "The American President", "Independence Day",
and now "Air Force One", in which the president is played by an actor almost
beloved by all, Harrison Ford. His character of the president makes
passionate speeches which actually say something, he clearly loves his
family, likes to relax by watching football, he's a decorated Vietnam
veteran, and most importantly, he fights and kills numerous terrorists when
they take over his airplane. What I don't understand is why movie presidents
have such strong character, yet whenever there's an election all we hear is
how character doesn't matter, many times coming from those in Hollywood. Now
this observation is not intended as any sort of political opinion (as I have
no interest in politics or in any political party), just as a curious
observation into why things are.
Ford again is in fine form, but do you think he's got this role down pat
yet? Also, I don't believe I've ever seen the man cry on film before, as he
does here. It's a very convincing performance sadly lost in a bunch of
cliches. William H. Macy is absolutely wasted in his role as one of the
staff members aboard Air Force One. This is the kind of role I'd see him in
years ago and think, "Wow, he's interesting. I can't wait to see him in
larger roles." Come on Hollywood, stop wasting this man.
Numerous logic problems plague the script. For example, in order for the
terrorists plans to work, they are dependent on one of the president's own
staff to initiate the takeover. This person's connection with the terrorists
is never revealed, why is he helping them? Also, to pull this off, you'd
think these terrorists need to be pretty sharp. Yet when the attack is about
to begin, moments after takeoff, Oldman has to wake them up! They were
napping! Later, when the pilots are killed (never seen that before), the
terrorists seem completely unprepared for that possibility. Even though
Oldman himself is blowing the pilots away, he's then shocked that they're
dead and has no idea what to do next.
A note to filmmakers using computers for special effects: Please, until you
can make a computer effect not look like a computer effect, stick with using
models. The computer created effect showing the final fate of Air Force One
is bad, bad, 1000 times bad. Look at movies from ten to fifteen years ago
which used models. They STILL look better than most of today's computer
generated effects.
"Air Force One" certainly isn't awful like most recent airplane disaster
flicks ("Con Air", "Turbulence"), but I certainly expected something better considering the cast and director. As an action film using a hopelessly
overused theme, "Air Force One" is simply a standard entry into the genre
and doesn't improve on the "Die Hard" formula as it should have. [R]
--
Chuck Dowling -- <chuckd21@southeast.net>
Visit Chuck's Movie Reviews at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/
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