Air Force One
The 1990s saw Hollywood carry on an inexplicably sickening love affair with then President Bill Clinton, producing a near record number of films where a President type character would almost always be portrayed in a sometimes over the top positive light all while the real Clinton was carrying on with interns and in the minds of many deferring the actual powers of the Presidency to wife Hillary. This 1997 release was one of the most successful of these types of films at the box office, a film that went all the way towards portraying El Presidente as being a hardass action hero, but the future geopolitical climates and attitudes in the real world to come would get a stunning and prophetic display right here. First off, director Wolfgang Peterson would publicly admit that he would have never made this film (nor would the film have been allowed to get made) after the events of September 11, especially since here we have terrorists hijacking not just any old plane, but that of The United States President with him, his family and staff all onboard. But perhaps even more prescient than that are in the circumstances leading up to the actual hijacking, with The President surprising even his own people during a state dinner and going âoff the scriptâ so to speak, announcing that both he and America will now be dispensers of justice worldwide for any international criminals intent on destroying the peace, prosperity and freedom of the people which naturally leads to his advisors (including an eerie John Podesta lookalike) giving him an earful about such an abrupt and off the cuff change in policy. One such criminal is General Radek (the legendary Jurgen Prochnow in an extended yet effective cameo), an unrepentant old school Communist from the cold war days who now threatens Russia (and the world) with a Civil War that would put the hardliner types such as himself back in power which wins him a visit from U.S. Special Operatives who storm his palace hideout, kill all of his guards on site and then whisk him away to a nice, comfortable military prison cell. Even as it appears to be more for the benefit of the Russian people rather than for our own, The President still stands firm behind his calls to continue administering justice to anyone else willing to cross these lines and in the capable hands of Harrison Ford, itâs clear that THIS President is not going to be backing down. No surprise since Fordâs President James Marshall has routinely been the winner of several online movie polls asking which fictional movie President that people would really and truly like to see in charge (with Bill Pullmanâs Independence Day President usually getting second place) and the concept of a U.S. President deciding that heâs going to follow his conscience and not play politics any longer (only to have a shitstorm coming down on him in response) is in many ways the most appealing thing about this character and nothing at all like the real life version at that time. The shitstorm comes in the form of Gary Oldman as a disciple of Prochnowâs who along with his men successfully impersonate a (murdered) Russian TV news crew and get themselves onboard the plane. Oldman would appear to have all of the bases covered for a takeover of the plane most notably a traitor Secret Service Agent (Xander Berkeley, easily among the top 5 hardest working character actors ever) who has set the situation up for them by murdering several fellow agents and then giving Oldmanâs men access to the planeâs sizable armory (thus precluding the need to sneak their own weapons past the heavy security) before taking his place amongst the other hostages and playing hurt until the right time comes along for him to show his hand (although never explained in the film, director Peterson revealed that Berkeleyâs treasonous Secret Service guy was in fact an ex CIA spook who had come to know Oldman and his goons over a period of time while working in Russia but the lack of a proper backstory there and the agentâs actions as they are presented in the film unfortunately make it appear as if he just snapped on the job and randomly went crazy during the whole conflict rather than confirming that he was in fact in cahoots with Oldman whom he never even speaks to onscreen the whole movie). Oldman wastes little time killing the pilots (since he brought his own) and averting an emergency landing right into the waiting arms of the military as Fordâs President (not too happy since the attack cut into his family time with his First Lady wife and precocious daughter neither of which thankfully appear to be clones of Hillary or Chelsea) is shoved by two soon to be dead Secret Service guys into the escape pod but he manages to sneak off instead before the pod launches leading Oldman to crow about what a fleeing coward he actually is but he is dead wrong since President Ford (said to be a decorated Vietnam veteran) is now staying out of sight and picking off the terrorists one by one (including Andrew âWishmasterâ Divoff, a guy who has played so many terrorists in his career that they might as well name a training camp after him) with the irony being that one almost needs to look at this as a Die Hard movie where John McClane is actually the most important and valuable hostage out of anybody. Meanwhile, Oldman is deep in intense negotiations with the safely ensconced in the White House Vice President (Glenn Close, an ideal casting choice if you must have a female VP) and The Secretary Of Defense (Dean Stockwell proudly playing up the clichĂ© of being the wrongheaded contrarian advisor) in order to get Prochnow released and thus restart their little Commie revolution. Oldman as the lead bad guy is yet another example of a main villain being poorly (or averagely) written and yet Oldman brings such savage intensity to a man who absolutely LOVED living in Communist Mother Russia so much that he would do absolutely anything and everything to get it back that he completely legitimizes the whole enterprise by his performance alone, not so much engaging in a battle of wits with Ford as it is a battle of WILLS, with Oldman not only trying to see if he can break âthe great manâ down enough in order to do his bidding in freeing Prochnow but also making a point to remind The First Daughter that her father is just as much of a murderer as he is, only he just does it with a phone call and a swipe of the pen instead of using a gun (until now that is). So strong is Oldmanâs presence to the overall quality of the film that this results in without a doubt the biggest error of judgment on the part of director Peterson to have Oldmanâs villain actually get âdispatchedâ at the Ÿ mark of the movie, a fatal mistake that forgets the meaning (and power) of the term âfinal showdownâ but after he and President Ford have their big battle (with both actors NOT pulling any of their onscreen punches), we STILL have a good 25 to 30 minutes left in the movie, enough time to have a contrived aerial battle between The U.S. Air Force and Prochnowâs lame fighter pilots and the real final confrontation between President Ford and his turncoat Secret Service man Berkeley (who had done NOTHING to help Oldman after his initial setting things up for the takeover and had actually carried himself quite nobly for much of the time) while an idiotic air rescue done by stringing passengers along between planes on a wobbly cord is carried out because Oldman earlier had jettisoned all of the parachutes which begs the question, why didnât they just use the wobbly cord to bring in a shitload of more parachutes, enough for everybody so that Berkeley the traitor wouldnât be haggling with either President Ford or military brass guy William H. Macy over who gets off next? Keeping in mind that President Ford insists that his wife, daughter and wounded Chief Of Staff all go before him when every minute counts, but it still should have been Oldman (possibly fighting alongside his mole finally) who should have been fighting to the very end of the movie instead of the final scene that we do get. But thereâs still enough good here that it can be forgiven with intense action scenes, Close and Stockwell sweating it out over the possible use of The 25th Amendment and a lead bad guy performance that is riveting regardless of whether heâs killing hostages or explaining his misguided politics in order to justify his twisted actions with a keyed up U.S. President ready, willing and able to take him down for goodâŠ
8/10