Air Force One

• Cat.no: PLFEC 37231
• Cert: 15
• Running time: 120 minutes
• Sides: 3 (CLV)
• Year: 1997
• Pressing: 1998
• Chapters: 22 (11/8/3)
• Sound: Dolby Surround
• Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
• Price: £24.99
• Extras : None
  

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  Director:

  Wolfgang Petersen

  (Das Boot, Outbreak, In The Life Of Fire)

Producer:

Screenplay:

Music:

Cast:

President James Marshall: Harrison Ford (The Indiana Jones Trilogy, The Star Wars Trilogy, American Graffiti, Blade Runner, Clear And Present Danger, The Devil’s Own, The Fugitive, Patriot Games, Presumed Innocent, Regarding Henry, Sabrina,Witness, Working Girl)
Ivan Korshunov: Gary Oldman (Basquiat, Dracula, The Fifth Element, The Firm, JFK, Leon, Murder In The First, Romeo Is Bleeding, The Scarlet Letter, Sid And Nancy, True Romance)
Vice President Kathryn Bennett: Glenn Close (101 Dalmations, Fatal Attraction, Hamlet (1991), Mars Attacks!, Meeting Venus, The Paper)
Grace Marshall: Wendy Crewson (The Good Son, The Santa Clause, To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday)
Alice Marshall: Liesel Matthews (A Little Princess)
Chief of Staff Lloyd Shepherd: Paul Guilfoyle (Apache, Extreme Measures)
Agent Gibbs: Xander Berkeley (Barb Wire, Candyman, A Few Good Men, The Killing Jar, Safe)
Major Caldwell: William H. Macy (Fargo, Mr. Holland’s Opus, The Client, Murder In The First, TV: “E.R.”)
Defense Secretary Walter Dean: Dean Stockwell (Blue Velvet, Dune, The Man With The Deadly Lens, Paris Texas, The Shadow Men, Stephen King’s The Langoliers, TV: “Quantum Leap”)
General Alexander Radek: Jurgen Prochnow (Beverly Hills Cop 2, Das Boot, Body Of Evidence, Dune, In The Mouth Of Madness, Judge Dredd)
Press Secretary Melanie Mitchel: Donna Bullock

Air Force Onesees Harrison Ford appears as the President Of TheUnited States in one of 1997’s summer blockbusters. Aboard the presential plane,the most heavily-guarded aircraft in the world, President James Marshall isreturning home with his wife, daughter and a planeload of top governmentofficials. But no sooner have they lifted off when the plane is highjacked byCommunist radicals, led by the ruthless terrorist Ivan Korshunov (GaryOldman).

Unless his country’s imprisoned dictactor is freed, Korshunov will start killingpassengers. Now, the most protected man in the world must take responsibilityhimself for the safety of all onboard and the future of the free world.

In a Hollywood film-by-numbers, it’s no secret that good will eventuallytriumph over evil, so if you haven’t seen the film before and don’t spot theobvious coming at you thick and fast then skip this part of the review.

Harrison Ford plays President Marshall (an actor as president – whatevernext? :), but spends all his time thumping the bad guys withoutdelivering any of the great one-liners that made all of his action films suchclassics from Star Wars to the Indiana Jones Trilogy, takingthe rest of his time to grimace as he fails to prevent some passengers makingtheir way to heaven.

Gary Oldman‘s Russian terrorist is rather disappointing as he shows noneof the charm or confidence in a character that he displayed in films such asLeon, The Fifth Element or True Romance, instead opting forplaying it straight but with a dodgy accent. Similarly Glenn Close isequally wooden as the Vice President sitting at ground level, trying (andfailing) not to have a bad-hair day by debating for two hours whether to signa piece of paper which would authorise the necessary force to blow Air ForceOne into sky-high pieces and rid the world of such a threat. Given that thiswould have brought the film to a prompt end, I’d have signed it myself, butMs. Close declines, as you’d expect.

As the film goes on it takes on a distinct Executive Decision flavour,another film about a plane overtaken by terrorists in which the main actorsaves the day by flying the plane to safety and where the bad guy is offedthirty minutes before the end.

It also plays out the usual old tricks in which one of the good pilotssurrounding AF1 gets in the way of a missile so Ford and friends surviveand there’s – shock-horor- a spy onboard amongst all the president’s men(Xander Berkeley), to which William H. Macy replies It wasyou?, when a Doh! would be much more appropriate. The revealingof his true identity isn’t much of a spoiler since he proves it twenty minutesinto the film and looking at him he’s got “bad guy” written all over hisreceeding forehead.

Also, two of Ford’s team get the point – the point that is found at the tipof a bullet. It’s no secret that one person on the receiving end is PressSecretary Melanie Mitchell (Donna Bullock) because she gets a wholechapter to herself for this final moment (chapter 14).

The rest of the team onboard including Paul Guilfoyle and those downbelow including Dean Stockwell fill in time with chit-chat while Ford’sscreen wife and daughter perform their roles as if reading from cue-cards.Will it be a happy end though for General Alexander Radek (JurgenProchnow) ? Since Gary Oldman has a 100% chance of checking out early,it doesn’t take a genius to work out the answer.

Finally, there’s a good advert for mobiles as Ford is able to phone home,walk around a heavily-shielded plane AND obtain crystal clear reception withoutgetting cut off. Good job he didn’t try all that AND call from a built-uparea…

What is exceptional about this disc is the crisp picture quality on display,essential for the in-flight scenes of explosions and aerial combat, not tomention the exact 2.35:1 widescreen transfer. I understand that the film looksquite comfortable in fullscreen given that it was shot in Super-35, which isn’tsomething that all Super-35 films enjoy.

One thing that will look weird in any ratio is the crashing of Air Force Oneinto the sea. Not so much state-of-the-art computer animation but 3Dfx demomaterial.

The sound is also first rate. Whether it’s Jerry Goldsmith‘s musicalscore, directional sound effects of planes and gunfire, or massive explosionsyou won’t be disappointed here.

The disc could have done with more chapters, given that there’s just 22 spreadthroughout the two hours. However, one good thing here is that they’ve spreadthe film out over three sides, allowing for better sidebreaks, rather thantwo sides with a possible duff sidebreak – all this for no extra cost too.It would have been nice to see side 3 appearing in CAV given that it lastsjust 23:29 (while sides 1 and 2 are approximately 48 minutes apiece). In factmy copy has a sticker on the back saying “CLV”, next to the words “3 sides”,where it previously said “Sides 1 & 2 CAV; Side 3 CAV” which is a shame.

Also, why is there no trailer?