Air Force One (DVD)

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OK, first, suspend your disbelief. I mean, like hang it out to dry somewhere and forget about it altogether. Then, pretend this is a kind of sci-fi fantasy film instead of a serious action thriller (although I suppose the designation "serious action thriller" is a contradiction in terms, anyway). With any expectations of real-life adventure safely out of mind, you can relish 1997´s megahit "Air Force One" as one heck of a joy ride. Better still, remastered in Sony´s videophile "Superbit" format, with its already excellent picture and sound even more improved, the film is a genuine delight for the senses.

Harrison Ford stars as President of the United States James Marshall, and who else would you want as a movie President in an action flick? I liked Morgan Freeman in "Deep Impact," but he didn´t have to fight it out hand-to-hand with the baddies the way Ford does. In "Air Force One" the President´s plane is hijacked (and I hope this isn´t where real-life terrorists get their ideas) by a group of militant Russian dissident nationalists who try to ransom the President, his wife (Wendy Crewson), and his twelve-year-old daughter (Leisel Matthews) for the release of a captured ultra-radical Russian general. Seems the General and his followers want to overthrow Russian democracy in their native land and restore an old-fashioned dictatorship. Gary Oldman is the leader of the onboard villains, so you know Ford is going to have his hands full. The story details the President´s attempts to counter the hijackers once they´ve taken over the plane. Also in the cast are Glenn Close as the Vice President, Dean Stockwell as the Secretary of Defense, and William H. Macy as a dedicated military officer.

Director Wolfgang Petersen ("Das Boot," "In the Line of Fire," "The Perfect Storm") injects enough slam-bang heroics into the proceedings to satisfy the most ardent action-movie fans, and, in fact, he may even overdo it. From the opening sequence showing a night raid on the Russian General´s headquarters to the final set of closing scenes aboard the President´s aircraft, the movie never lets up for a minute. The pacing does tend to leave one breathless, for good or for bad.

My objections to the plot and characters are minor and should be taken with a grain of salt; as I said, this film is not meant as a reality check. First of all, the film is highly derivative. The President is a Medal of Honor winner in Vietnam, a pilot who rescued soldiers on numerous occasions. Well, we saw this kind of kick-ass President the year before in "ID4," where Bill Pullman donned his jet-fighter gear and flew out one-on-one to do battle with space aliens. Granted, Ford pulls it off better, but even so.... We´ve also seen the lone-guy-against-them-all script in Bruce Willis´s "Diehard" series (1988-95), which was easier to swallow because those earlier films never took themselves so seriously as this one does. Next, the idea of fighting off the enemy within an enclosed area has likewise been done before; note Sigourney Weaver in "Alien" (1979) and Steven Seagal in "Under Siege" (1992). Finally, we´ve seen Oldman maybe one too many times as a deranged psychopath, and the act is wearing thin.

In addition to the film´s derivational nature, the story line is just about laughably implausible. I remember a few critics at the time of its theatrical release praising it for being "intelligent," but I guess I misunderstood or have to disagree with their meaning. There´s little of what I would consider "intelligent" filmmaking in asking us to believe that Oldman and his whole crew of nut cases could board Air Force One disguised as journalists without so much as a routine background check. Nor do I buy the President of the United States hanging out of the back end of a jet plane going hundreds of miles per hour. And not just doing it once but twice during different times in the movie! Likewise, I don´t buy the need for a triple set of anticlimactic endings, except to overdose on violence and duress.

Furthermore, I didn´t feel I needed to be put in the rather ugly position of watching a child in such constant danger as the President´s kid is put through. And last but not least, I could have done without the film´s unrelenting somberness; I mean, there´s hardly a smidgen of humor here, besides maybe the President trying to make a cell-phone call to the White House and having trouble with the switchboard operator.