Strategic Command

This film is pretty damn bad. As has already been mentioned the film steals the plots of Executive Decision and borrows a bit of the Rock for good measure.

What I did not understand was why would the kidnappers hijack the Vice Presidents plane ?? Surely with all that potential chemical death on board any plane would have done. In fact why use a plane at all just use a bomb in a warehouse with the chemical. Oh well who knows the minds of master criminals in terrible films ?

The plot is stolen from executive decistion. The aerial shots are borrowed from stock footage. This really only leaves the acting to save it - sadly it doesn't. Stereotypical bad guys and Stereotypical good guys (the leader of the special forces team sent in to rescue the Vice President is a gung ho idiot so that the main film hero can take over - oh my god).

Good look finding more work for all involved in this turkey.

Obviously, someone at the writer's den couldn't think of any more ideas so they decided to steal Executive Decision. It's the same story and same EXACT plot. Plane gets hijacked, there's a bomb, a team goes in by via plane hook-up, some made it, gotta disarm bomb, and whee!! All the heroes make it. They even copied the salute in the end when the hero and soldiers saluted. Whoo, boy. Someone ought to smack the writers around for copying.

This was the crappiest crap i've seen...this week. Dudikoff is really an action star wannabe without any things to highlight... yeah, it's the same plot as in Executive Decision, but with a bigger hostage (not senator, but vicepresident) and an older stealth plane... i don't consider it as a remake of ED but a mere and plain copy... by the way, in the last scene, when the arm injured soldier makes the military salute to Dude, as he has his right arm injured he does it... with his left arm! isn't that forbidden? please Mr Dudikoff, stop making this duuuummmmmbbbb and boring stuff, we don't need you at all, i mean it

Combine the two and what do you get? STRATEGIC COMMAND (originally titled EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE, the title I prefer, which was also the original title of MURDER AT 1600). Michael Dudikoff comes to the rescue when the Vice President (Michael Cavanaugh) is held prisoner en route to D.C. For some reason (probably budget ones), the plane is a commercial airliner instead of Air Force Two. Due to the limited Secret Service (three guys and a girl), Richard Norton and cronies manage to overtake the plane, courtesy of a traitorous Secret Service agent, holding everyone aboard hostage for the old standby demand of wanting a fellow terrorist released from prison. Teaming with an elite strike force, Dudikoff attempts to save the day and his girlfriend (Amanda Wyss), a journalist who's on board to do an exclusive interview with the Vice President. Nick Corri is the head of the team, who (naturally) dislikes Dudikoff immediately but comes to except him. As with EXECUTIVE DECISION, their method of boarding the plane is by way of a specially-designed plane, this time an SR-71. But the operation goes wrong, and half the team gets left behind, leaving only Dudikoff, Corri, and one other soldier to neutralize the situation. Once on board, it's time to sneak around and improvise since most of the equipment was also left on the SR-71. The film is somewhat hampered by a low budget and the "rushed" feel that a lot of direct-to-video movies have, but it comes out well enough, helped along by a great soundtrack that sounds like a merging of the talents of Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams. Brother composers Eric and David Wurst should be given some big-budget movies to work with. STRATEGIC COMMAND is no AIR FORCE ONE or EXECUTIVE DECISION, but it's decent entertainment for a boring night.

Granted, this movie isn't a cinematic masterpiece (then again, what movie since "Raiders of the Lost Ark" or "The Postman" is?), but it's still a rollicking good time. I've been waiting to see this movie since it was made back in 1997, and I just recently did. I've been a fan of Michael Dudikoff for many years now, and this is my favorite film starring him. Who cares if it borrows from "Die Hard," "The Rock," "Air Force One" and "Executive Decision?" This movie rocks!! If you watch this movie knowing it's low-budget and expecting low-budget elements, you'll enjoy it. I know I did. My whole family did. In fact, I just spent $80 to buy an actual copy of it. I loved it that much. I watched in five times in five days. Though it doesn't rank in my Top Five favorite films of all time, it's certainly more enjoyable than most of the Hollywood films I've seen in the last two years. So sit down with a big bowl of popcorn, a big screen TV with a good stereo surround sound system (much like I did), and enjoy. You're in for a ride that won't quit!!