Review of Air Force One (1997) by Joseph M — 12 Oct 2013

Let's start out by saying that Air Force One is not only the greatest Harrison Ford movie I have ever seen, but the greatest heist movie I have ever seen. It's better than Die Hard, it's better than Olympus Has Fallen, it's even better than White House Down. Every single nitpick and flaw I could find in any of those movies are made up for in this. I consider it a near-flawless action movie.

While the premise itself isn't particularly original, it manages to include little details and elements that are highly inventive. For instance, this is the only presidential heist movie that I've seen that has the president kicking ass all by himself. In OHF and WHD, the president is always assisted by a young guy who does most of the work. But in this movie, it's the president all alone, doing everything all by himself, and it's just awesome. The other thing that sets the film apart is it's sense of seriousness. There is very little humor to be found in this movie, and only a couple one-liners. Normally, if a film has a shortage of these traits, it becomes bland and less fun, but this film pulls it off extraordinarily. I don't know if it's because of the direction, or the writing, or the performances, or what, but somehow it pulls it off.

Speaking of which, I must talk about the performances. Harrison Ford gives what is most likely the greatest performance of his career. It's better than Han Solo, it's better than Richard Kimble, I might even say it's better than Indiana Jones. He gives an unbelievably powerhouse performance in a role that just screams for him to be in it. It is not a role that could be taken by anyone else. He does it perfectly. As the villain, Gary Oldman is awesome as always, although he did go a bit over the top in a few scenes. Glenn Close was surprisingly effective as the Vice President, a role which I definitely would never have pictured her in. The only actor that I wasn't a fan of was Liesel Matthews as the president's daughter, but what the hell, she's just a kid actor in the 90s, what are you gonna do.

The action scenes are fantastically choreographed and exciting, starting off slow and tense and then getting faster and more brutal as the film progresses. The special effects are also exceptionally good for the time, with the exception of the plane crash at the end, which looked rather silly.

All things said, really, I have almost no problems with this movie. It's patriotic, it's informative, it's entertaining, it's relentless, it's breathless, it's everything I could ever ask for in an action movie.