Air Force One

During a flight, Air Force One is taken over by terrorists. The security forces rush the president to the escape pod but he stays to help his family. However with the terrorists making great demands and starting to kill hostages on the plane the President has to make contact with the ground but also take on the terrorists.

It's not an original idea – Die Hard on a plane. But hang on we've done Die Hard on a plane at least a few times in Passenger 57 and Executive Decision so how can we do it again? By putting it on air force one of course. So the President becomes John McClane and Gary Oldman is the usual Brit playing Euro-trash terrorist. The difference between this and Die Hard is that here the action is a lot more stilted and underplayed – which is a surprise for an action movie. However it does manage to have a good tension so it's still good.

It adds interest by having the action in the ground along with the political fighting in the White House over control of the situation. It isn't an earth shattering script but it is good enough to get you carried away easily. The only downside is that you can nearly always see where the formula is going at any one time.

The cast is good and is deep. Ford has the age to play a President but the action status to give him that fighting edge. Oldman is no stranger to hamming up his bad guys and doing iffy accents and here turns in a so-so performance as a cartoon terrorist. The support cast is good – even if they have little to do. Glenn Close, Dean Stcokwell et al don't have much to do but talk loud but do it well. Macy, Berkeley, Prochnow and other big names add weight but have few lines.

Overall this is a big Hollywood blockbuster that no doubt helped America feel good about itself. It sticks close to the formula but the action is slick and quite tense and makes for an enjoyable, if unoriginal, 2 hours.

I know what you're thinking, "What the hell is he saying?" It's true that we've had so many biographies about presidents in which some of the movies told about historic incidents, why not have a fictional president that could kick ass and take names? Harrison Ford is the man for the job.

"Air Force One" is a thriller that involves Russian terrorist Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman) and his gang of criminals hijacking the first plane along with the president's wife and child and his staff. Meanwhile, President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) is hiding after an attack on the ship where he must reunite with his family before they end up victims to Ivan's plan if the president doesn't release a Russian prisoner who happens to be a general and a terrorist.

The film itself is a nail bitter thriller with an all star cast as Ford and Oldman play their usual good guy/villain roles with Glenn Close, Wendy Crewson, Xander Berkerly and William H. Macy in supporting roles. If there was such thing where Harrison Ford had a nomination for president, I would vote.

Nobody messes with the president. And for ford this time around it means saving airforce one from a hijacking. Gary oldman plays a great villian along with great performances by glenn close and the rest of the cast. Really great action and some intense scenes make this a solid action thriller.

There are two reasons that Air Force One succeeds: Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman. Their performances alone keep this political action flick in the air. However, the decades haven't been kind to the visual effects-the exterior flying scenes look really cheesy now. Also, this film feels excessively violent. Nevertheless, I'd still vote to watch it again one day.

Marshall is the kind of President referred to a change in the U.S. foreign policy… He took a great risk when he stated that America will no longer tolerate any terrorist government… His policy is soon put in practice when he boards his plane on his way home…

Once is in the sky, 'Air Force One' is hijacked and currently controlled by Russian radicals who ask for the release of their leader or they'll execute a prisoner every half hour…

Harrison Ford is the action hero making his way through the plane taking out few terrorists, managing to free several hostages, trying to get to his wife and daughter who are prisoners on board…

Gary Oldman almost steals the show as the head terrorist Ivan Korshunov who takes over the president's plane…

Beautifully directed by Wolfgang Petersen who controls the action with his usual extreme intelligence, building the challenge with captivating, tense sequences from every compartment of the huge aircraft to the White House contingent in Washington