July 26, 1997 -- "Air Force One" is yet another big budget action movie out of Hollywood for the summer season. The addition of some big stars, most notably Harrison Ford, and a good villain raise this one a notch above the average.

Ford plays James Marshall, the President of the United States, who is trapped aboard Air Force One with a bunch of hostages when a group of communists hijack the plane over Russia. He does a kind of "Die Hard" number, playing cat and mouse with the hijackers, picking them off one by one, never mind that he's got 20 or 30 years on some of the thugs he's beating up barehanded.

The leader of the hijackers, Ivan Korshunov, is convincingly played by Gary Oldman. Glenn Close also stars as the vice president. Wendy Crewson and Liesel Matthews play the president's wife and daughter.

There are a lot of unbelievable things about the film, such as how hijackers from an impoverished country are able to arrange for inside help on Air Force one, how the president manages to survive the extreme cold, lack of oxygen and explosive decompression at 30,000 feet above sea level for several minutes, how the hijackers are able to arrange for thumbprint clearances and other little details like that.

If you ignore all that, the film does have a lot of suspense. Unfortunately, it also has a great deal of violence and blood. This is not for the kids. In its best moments, with the president scurrying around the inside of the plane trying to outwit the hijackers, it is almost as good as "Die Hard."

It has about what you would expect from a high profile movie, good stunts and special effects, good camera work and solid acting. Often, you don't get these things, but this is a quality production. It rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 1997 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.