Air Force One

Air Force One (1997), directed by Wolfgang Petersen

1993's In the Line of Fire was a marvelous movie, everyone agrees. Clint Eastwood was a grizzled veteran Secret Service agent exorcising the demons of his past by hunting down a homicidal assailant (Oscar-nominated John Malkovich), attempting to assassinate the President. It had suspense, thrills, and chases, the staple of many a Hollywood thriller, but it also had fascinating sequences of the villain preparing his plot, spinning his web. It had tension, but it also had humor. Wolfgang Petersen's film was one of the most enjoyable Hollywood films of the 90's.

So who kidnapped him and replaced him with the imposter who directed Air Force One? Now I'm not saying it's a bad movie, far from it. It is one of the more enjoyable films of the summer. Petersen still has the ability to not only build up tension, but keep it up for long periods. But the different pleasures of the 1993 film: the crafty villain, the haunted hero, the humor and wistful romance, are gone. Instead we have Gary Oldman as a villain even less subtle than in The Fifth Element. We have a President who is, in the screenplay, less than two-dimensional, and we have no side-excursions into the past, into humor, into anything. True, the action is there and it's good, but it's somehow not enough.

Harrison Ford plays the President (it's inevitable that he would, sooner or later). During a dinner in Moscow, he gives an ever-so-earnest speech about how America refuses to tolerate terrorists. Then, in what Hollywood hacks must consider "irony", his plane is hijacked by a group of terrorists, led by Oldman, who apparently is a candidate for "most accents used by an actor during his screen career." Ford is believed to have been dropped in the plane's escape pod, but as anyone who has seen the film's trailer or television commercials knows, he's actually hiding aboard the plane, waiting to kick some commie butt.

Now the terrorists in question supposedly got on board by imitating a gaggle of Muscovite journalists. The real journalists were supposedly murdered, and are discovered minutes after the hijacking occurs. Why is it that the crime is discovered at that precise moment? An hour earlier, and their whole scheme would have gone down the toilet. I think that the ruthless terrorists would do just a little better job of disposing the evidence than that. And then there's the matter of their collaborator in the Secret Service. Why is this man betraying the President? Surely someone doesn't spend that long in the service of the President just to up and betray him to assassins. And if so, why? There is not even an attempt at explanation made.

Normally, such questions of realism would not come into play, but after such realistic films as In the Line of Fire and the classic Das Boot, one expects more from Wolfgang Petersen. It would also be easier to ignore the inconsistencies if the characters weren't so one-dimensional. The President is too noble and good to be true. The terrorist is evil incarnate. The first lady and first daughter are younger, prettier versions of the current White House residents. Everyone grits their teeth and does what they have to do.

Only Harrison Ford transcends the material entirely. He shows why he became such a huge star: he does what he has to do, but is no superhuman. When Ford is onscreen, we can buy the whole cockamamie story.

I don't wish to undersell the suspense here. There are many thrills here. Just be sure to turn your brain off at the door. You won't be needing it.

Three stars