Air Force One - Wolfgang Petersen -1997

★★★-Imagine Die Hard, same beats and everything, on a plane, with the President. That is exactly what this movie is. I went to this opening weekend when I was 16. Ludicrous, sure, but that's the charm. Perfect movie for Fourth of July weekend. 

Couldn't help think of what our real presidents would do under threat of capture with an escape hatch on board. 46 would have stayed on the plane and died as he isn't a superhero. 45 would have absolutely ditched his family and probably wouldn't have given a shit. Figure H.W. would have had the best chance, but he was a bit old at that point. Maybe Ford, LBJ, or JFK. Eisenhower was too old, maybe. I won't conjecture past that. 

Stars Harrison Ford as the President who we learn in exposition was a Medal of Honor recipient, Gary Oldman as the head Russian terrorist, Glenn Close as the VP, Wendy Crewson as the First Lady, “that guy” actor Xander Berkeley, and Liesel Matthews as the First Kid. Fun fact, her family owns the Hyatt hotel chain among other things. They control a fortune worth over $15 billion, though she had to sue her shithead dad to get any of the fortune. She's probably worth close to a billion. Also, William H. Macy, Dean Stockwell, and Paul Guilfoyle play various cabinet members. 

It was the fifth highest-grossing film of 1997 and was incredibly nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Sound and Best Film Editing), losing both to Titanic. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen. He did Das Boot, The NeverEnding Story, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, The Perfect Storm, and Troy, among other things.

The movie has two modes, action-packed, and sort of boring. The pacing is insane and could have been way tighter. It feels like it takes place in real time with A LOT of walking around the isles of the plane and Ford prairie dogging his head from one level of the plane to the next. There is more, like the scene where the President reads a phone manual and later sends a fax. Also, there is this crazy time-consuming subplot where Dean Stockwell as the Defense Secretary tries to get the VP to invoke the 25th Amendment to get the President declared incapable. It really doesn't work. A bunch of CGI, too, that ages pretty poorly. Like Mortal Combat level graphics.

No one in the movie really has anything to work with except Harrison Ford. Close, for example, could have been replaced by a D-lister and the movie wouldn't have suffered at all. But the reason this movie rules and why it was a blockbuster are it was an excuse for Harrison Ford to play hero ball and be a kick ass action star. Mission accomplished.