Air Force One

A movie by Wolfgang Petersen

With Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, William H. Macy

Monika says:

Air Force One is supposedly the safest airplane in the world, an impregnable flying fortress. But in this movie Wolfgang Petersen makes the impossible happen: on the way back from an official visit in Moscow AFO is abducted by terrorists led by the fanatic Korschunow (Gary Oldman). Nobody knows how they got past security or how they got into the secret arsenal on board the plane. They want the dictator Radek (Juergen Prochnow) to be released from prison and they aren't squirmish about the means to their end. If their demands are not met they want to shoot a hostage every 30 minutes. At the White House the vice president (Glenn Close) prepares to take over because the President (Harrison Ford) has vanished and is not among the hostages.

This doesn't look like a very original story at first sight. Been there, done that in about half a dozen other movies. It's hard to say why AIR FORCE ONE still works as an action thriller. The movie is made of conventional ingredients and doesn't seem to offer anything new, except perhaps for the idea to turn the American president into an action hero. This time he is not protected by a bodyguard but gets to try his own fists for a change. And Harrison Ford as President James Marshall fights with determination, so that – of course – the terrorists lose in the end. Critics lamented his being not very convincing as the head of state and most powerful man in the world, or that it's not a good idea to make the president the male lead in a movie. If you have problems with the concept, just remember a man called Ronald Reagan, who played that part for several years. Objection overruled.

Gary Oldman is still booked on evil-guy-parts just like the Hitler-like Zorg in THE FIFTH ELEMENT. At least he is very convincing and what is an action movie without a bad guy? Nowadays it's hard to know where the bad guys are. The Soviets are no longer available since the end of the Cold War. What are we to do? Roland Emmerich solved the problem by creating hideous and mean aliens. Petersen relies on trusted methods and uses nasty Russians who want to ressurrect the Soviet regime. Why not?

No surprises as far as the beginning and the end of the movie are concerned. Everybody can guess that the president will not be killed by terrorists in a mainstream action movie (although every rule has its exception). So why should you still watch AIR FORCE ONE? Because of the tension that builds, because it doesn't matter so much what happens, but how it happens. The movie is solidly made and still has some unexpected twists to offer. Of course the movie ends as expected, and if you were bothered by the patriotism demonstrated in INDEPENDENCE DAY you don't want to see AIR FORCE ONE either. If cliches like that don't bother you, you get two hours of suspense and well done special effects. After all, Wolfgang Petersen didn't stoop to letting a stewardess or even Mr. President himself land the plane in the end.

Well done thriller with a convincing Harrison Ford.

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Monika Hübner

Last changes: 01/04/03