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After all, Ford has become used to the Hollywood spotlight earning big-time roles in celebrated movies like Star Wars, Blade Runner, The Fugitive, and of course, playing the revered archeologist himself in Indiana Jones. Air Force One was a major go-to movie in the summer of 1997, but has it held up over time? Let's find out.
The film begins with United States President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) making a speech in Moscow. He promises that the U.S. will never again, under any circumstances, negotiate with terrorists.
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President Marshall later boards Air Force One with his wife, Grace (Wendy Crewson) and daughter Alice (Liesel Pritzker Simmons). Shortly after takeoff, a group of Russian terrorists hijack the plane. The terrorists want Russian terrorist leader, General Ivan Radek (Jürgen Prochnow) to be released from prison. Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close) is in the White House trying to compromise with the terrorists while also struggling to ensure the safety and well-being of the plane's passengers. Because of the importance of the plot in this movie analysis, spoilers will be ahead.
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Air Force One's beginning credits are exciting, with composer Jerry Goldsmith conducting a patriotic and grandiose score that fits the movie's subject very well. Along with the music, the many scenes filled with gunfire and explosions add to the glossy Hollywood quality of the film. Nonetheless, there are scenes here and there that seem completely outdated and rather ugly compared to today's standards. For example, there is a scene in which some of the passengers manage to escape the aircraft by deploying parachutes. The way the passengers fall into the sky with their parachutes looks unnatural and computerized. There is also a scene in which the plane looks more like the product of a video game than an actual object I can touch.
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Also, for a movie made in the late nineties, the sound quality is kind of mediocre. Sure, I wasn't listening to the film in a theatre, but usually my around ear headphones pick up digital sound very well. Compared to Pearl Harbor, a movie that was made only four years after this film, Air Force One didn't bother taking advantage of digital surround sound. For a movie containing so much action and violence, it wasted a great deal of it's sound potential. In terms of camera style, the film isn't that edgy. Although there is a cool scene when the members of the White House are celebrating over the defeat of the terrorists on Air Force One. The camera spins around the room of the White House, almost uncontrollably.
President Marshall is probably the most likable politician that will ever be known to man, making him pretty unrealistic.
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Professor at the State University of New York in Buffalo, Ram Samudrala writes his thoughts in an article conveniently titled, "Air Force One". He mentions, "we're asked to believe that the President of the United States can, in a situation of conflict, fight like Han Solo from Star Wars." Scenes when President Marshall walks around with a machine gun, and when First Lady Grace Marshall constantly talks back to the terrorists make the movie seem more artificial.
Harrison plays sort of a "rebel president" in the sense that he doesn't bother consulting anyone in the government before he makes his speech on refusing to negotiate with terrorists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwQ-TCeM2mU
He seems like the kind of president you can have a beer with. In one scene the President even asks one of his assistants, "Could you get me a Heineken?" There's no doubt that this is obvious product placement, but this dialogue actually helps us better understand exactly what kind of guy President Marshall really is: the everyday kind of guy. The movie adds a little bit of plain-folks appeal.
While the movie follows some of Hollywood's classic and predictable rules, it also succeeds at breaking some. Marshall's deputy press secretary, Melanie Mitchel (Donna Bullock) is ruthlessly murdered by the terrorists after they count down from ten.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTndK3-iHvA
I would have thought she would have been saved at the last second, but surprisingly, she is shot and killed immediately. Also, there is a twist at the end when we find out that Secret Service Agent Gibbs has actually been working with the terrorists on the plane the entire time.
First Lady Grace Marshall begins to feel more and more like a quivering damsel in distress as the movie progresses. We are welcomed, however, with a refreshing surprise. In the final fight scene between President Marshall and terrorist Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman), Grace helps her husband defeat the enemy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdaeVone5qA
Grace strikes Ivan, giving President Marshall enough time to make a quick move, and hang the terrorist with a parachute. The movie does a decent job at throwing in some unexpected jabs throughout the running time.
Air Force One is not that groundbreaking, but it has enough unpredictability to keep the audience interested throughout the film. You pretty much know from the start that President Marshall is going to be fine, and so is his wife and daughter. You know that the Russian terrorists are going to lose and that the U.S. government will celebrate over their victory. But we still watch the movie anyway for the little moments that give us that tiny jolt of anxiety.
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