Momento Crítico

I saw this in 1996 and thought it was extremely entertaining--an action movie with emphasis on suspense over shoot-em-up thrillers and explosions. Seeing it again, after the events in the past 4 years, is a different experience. Some of the fictional dialog has actually been quoted by fanatics in the news. I had the same reaction with Black Sunday with Robert Shaw. A movie meant as pure escapism is now more like "what if." Executive Decision does ask you to suspend disbelief several times, especially near the end. I would rank it up with Air Force One, which came out a year later and delivers the same type of "suspense over explosions" entertainment. And this film deserves extra kudos for making the ones that save the world a bit on the "misfit" side (Oliver Platt, John Leguizamo, Joe Morton, BD Wong, and yes, even Kurt Russell). Another nice slimy role for late character actor JT Walsh. And David Suchet makes a scary villain. Like the best villains (Alan Rickman from Die Hard comes to mind), he can be charming and terrifying at the same time.

Slam-bang thriller is an intense, pulse-pounding thrill ride from beginning to end. Russell stars as a smart but inexperienced intelligence analyst who's given the task of a lifetime when he, along with a group of rugged Special Forces commandos, must board an American 747 in midair after it's hijacked by ruthless international terrorists. It's a race against time as they must not only ensure the safety of all the passengers, but retake the plane before it can reach the U.S. eastern seaboard. Swift direction, exciting, skillful action sequences, endless suspense, and rock solid performances make this wild ride of a movie a definite must for action fans. ***

I enjoyed this one. Sure there were some implausible things: the speed of the counter-action, the strange fact that a complete change of the aerodynamics of a stealth bomber seems to cause zero disturbance... But all in all it was well within bearable limits. Don't expect to see a 100% realistic plot in a movie that is supposed to contain heros! In reality, they usually get shot or explode before they have the chance to become one :-)

Critical Decisions has a more than adequate mix of suspense, better-than-horrible acting, plot twists and mild humor to relieve the tension. Whereas a lot of movies in the same genre totally screw up one or more of those aspects. I'm thinking about the terribly balanced "humor" in The Rock, for example. Killing all tension and involvement..

8/10

JoH

A fun, tense, and exciting action/thriller with an excellent ensemble cast, headed by Kurt Russell and including Halle Berry, David Suchet, and John Leguizamo.

Even Steven Seagal does a creditable job, mainly because this isn't a "Steven Seagal movie." His supporting role permits him to do what he does best (which isn't acting). He doesn't have to pretend to be witty, there's none of that awful smirking he does in a vain attempt to show emotion, the camera doesn't caress his body, and there's not one speech about how gol-dang *good* his character is. He even manages to enunciate his lines clearly!

The plot might have seemed a little far-fetched when the movie was released, but not anymore.

I'm not even much of an action film fan, but this one is really a lot of fun.

Most of this movie is simply one extremely long suspense scene as a team of Americans try to board a passenger jet, disarm a bomb and capture terrorists. After a 10-15 minute opening to set the story up, the rest of it (two hours) is the constant suspense of whether the mission will succeed and what happens along the way. With that much tension for so, the movie would have been more effective had it been cut 15-20 minutes.

However, it was never boring. It was far-fetched, however, but many action movies are just that, and this story wasn't stupid, by any means. I expected such with Kurt Russell and Steven Segal in it, but those two were much more subdued than usual.

Oliver Platt, Halle Barry, John Leguizamo and Joe Morton rounded out a very diverse and solid cast. This is one of those films that really grabs you the first time you see it, but after that, loses its appeal since the suspense is over. Definitely recommended for those who like to sit on the edge of their seat and be entertained.