Air Force One (1997)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1997
	Director: Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, The NeverEnding Story)
	Actors: Harrison Ford (Star Wars 4-7), Gary Oldman (The Fifth Element, Darkest Hour), Glenn Close (Mars Attacks!)
	Country: USA, D
	Genre: Action, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 10.02.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: On his way back from Moscow where he made a memorable anti-terrorism speech, US President James Marshall (Ford) sees his plane hijacked.
Review: Sixteen years before White House Down and Olympus Has Fallen, Air Force One is the prototype of those over-the-top action movies involving a POTUS taken hostage in his own house (the big plane is considered as such) and taking part of the action. The synopsis sound all too exaggerated and it is. In this movie you get everything you could wish for: Russian bad guys, the president's wife and daughter onboard the plane, a vice-president (played by Glenn Close) facing hard decisions on the ground, a traitor, plane fights, and a whole lot of heroism including from the main character. Still, I take a guilty pleasure watching it every time, except that this time and in spite of poor viewing conditions, I couldn't help but notice annoying things like the special effects (digital and composite) that have really aged, and the ease with which the president always manage to surprise or overpower his enemies in a confined space that is the plane. This is disturbing until the last two fights, when you think "waw, he really is cornered, how ingenuously is he going to get out of this?" and the answer is unfortunately that he kicks the enemy's gun and then fist-fights him until victory, or something like that. Almost as lazy writing as "Look behind you!". Just watch it for some nostalgia of the 90's generosity.
Rating: 5 /10