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Dom Robinson reviews

Air Force One

Harrison Ford is the President of the United States.
Impenetrable. Invincible. In Trouble.

Distributed by
Pioneer LDCE

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

Director:

Wolfgang Petersen

Das Boot, Outbreak, In The Life Of Fire

Producer:

Armyan Bernstein, Wolfgang Petersen, Gail Katz and John Shestack

Screenplay:

Andrew W. Marlowe

Music:

Jerry Goldsmith

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 One sees Harrison Ford appears as the President Of The United States in one of 1997's summer blockbusters. Aboard the presential plane, the most heavily-guarded aircraft in the world, President James Marshall is returning home with his wife, daughter and a planeload of top government officials. But no sooner have they lifted off when the plane is highjacked by Communist radicals, led by the ruthless terrorist Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman).

Unless his country's imprisoned dictactor is freed, Korshunov will start killing passengers. Now, the most protected man in the world must take responsibility himself 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 eventually triumph over evil, so if you haven't seen the film before and don't spot the obvious coming at you thick and fast then skip this part of the review.

Harrison Ford plays President Marshall (an actor as president - whatever next? :), but spends all his time thumping the bad guys without delivering any of the great one-liners that made all of his action films such classics from Star Wars to the Indiana Jones Trilogy, taking the rest of his time to grimace as he fails to prevent some passengers making their way to heaven.

Gary Oldman's Russian terrorist is rather disappointing as he shows none of the charm or confidence in a character that he displayed in films such as Leon, The Fifth Element or True Romance, instead opting for playing it straight but with a dodgy accent. Similarly Glenn Close is equally wooden as the Vice President sitting at ground level, trying (and failing) not to have a bad-hair day by debating for two hours whether to sign a piece of paper which would authorise the necessary force to blow Air Force One into sky-high pieces and rid the world of such a threat. Given that this would have brought the film to a prompt end, I'd have signed it myself, but Ms. 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 actor saves the day by flying the plane to safety and where the bad guy is offed thirty minutes before the end.

It also plays out the usual old tricks in which one of the good pilots surrounding AF1 gets in the way of a missile so Ford and friends survive and there's - shock-horor- a spy onboard amongst all the president's men (Xander Berkeley), to which William H. Macy replies It was you?, when a Doh! would be much more appropriate. The revealing of his true identity isn't much of a spoiler since he proves it twenty minutes into the film and looking at him he's got "bad guy" written all over his receeding forehead.

Also, two of Ford's team get the point - the point that is found at the tip of a bullet. It's no secret that one person on the receiving end is Press Secretary Melanie Mitchell (Donna Bullock) because she gets a whole chapter to herself for this final moment (chapter 14).

The rest of the team onboard including Paul Guilfoyle and those down below including Dean Stockwell fill in time with chit-chat while Ford's screen wife and daughter perform their roles as if reading from cue-cards. Will it be a happy end though for General Alexander Radek (Jurgen Prochnow) ? 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 without getting cut off. Good job he didn't try all that AND call from a built-up area...

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 to mention the exact 2.35:1 widescreen transfer. I understand that the film looks quite comfortable in fullscreen given that it was shot in Super-35, which isn't something that all Super-35 films enjoy.

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

The sound is also first rate. Whether it's Jerry Goldsmith's musical score, directional sound effects of planes and gunfire, or massive explosions you won't be disappointed here.

The disc could have done with more chapters, given that there's just 22 spread throughout the two hours. However, one good thing here is that they've spread the film out over three sides, allowing for better sidebreaks, rather than two 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 lasts just 23:29 (while sides 1 and 2 are approximately 48 minutes apiece). In fact my 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?

Overall, while the film won't win any awards for surprises, it's an easy two hour ride with an excellent sound and picture, so if it was your favourite summer film of last year, your money's well-spent.

FILM	 		: **
PICTURE QUALITY		: *****
SOUND QUALITY		: *****
EXTRAS			: 0
-------------------------------
OVERALL			: ***

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.

Check out Pioneer's Web site.

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