Customer Reviews
Fast and Flowing thriller with brilliance from Oldman - By: Stampy, 07 Oct 2008 
President James Marshalll (Ford) is in danger when a group of Russian terrorists take control of Air Force One.
Wolfgang Peterson (In the line of fire) delivers a fast & tense action thriller in which Harrison Ford (Star Wars) gives a good performance as President Marshalll alongside a terrific act by Gary Oldman (Dracula) as the lead terrorist Ivan Korshunov.
Ford & Oldman give good performances but the star of the show is Peterson whose action style of direction maintains the tension & delivers excitement & claustrophobia on alll the right levels, as does the writing by Andrew Marlowe.
The film gets off to the right start with a group of agents parachuting into General Radek's mansion & kidnapping him, laying down the tone for the plot to take full swing & after an inspirational speech by the President, the real action & intensity begin.
Though perhaps predictable as to what will happen on the plane, there is still an intensity so high & exciting that you can't tear your eyes away as the stakes rise & the drama reaches boiling point.
The narrative flows consistently & creates its own realism & conforms well to the action thriller genre. What is impressive is that the action & intensity never let up & the stakes just keep getting higher & higher until the ultimate climax, & even then it keeps going. Thankfully hardly any clichés get in the way to spoil it.
Peterson's direction helps bring the action to life, but also the characters, & none more so than Oldman's Korshunov, who is a true joy to watch. Like Alan Rickman in Die Hard, Oldman masters the foreign accent & creates that essence of control & evil, matched well by Ford who delivers another exciting action character.
Without these characters, the plot would not have been as exciting or intriguing, & is a credit to Ford & Oldman. Glenn Close (Dangerous Liaisons) also delivers a good character as the Vice President.
If you find the thriller genre hard to digest in terms of realism, you can take comfort in the acting & the characters but ultimately, this is a top notch exciting thriller.
9/10
Stars and Stripes forever - By: John Smith, 12 Sep 2007 
I have read some of the reviews that criticise this film for its jingoistic & simplistic world view but that is reallly to miss the point. This is an Action Adventure movie ,in the mould of the Die Hard movies and,on that level, this is a superb film.Yes the Americans are the good guys & the Russians are the bad guys but the scene where a fighter pilot sacrifices himself to save the President is brilliant & I think probably does reflect America`s attitude to the office of President. The President is America.
And isn`t it fun, just for once, in these cynical times, to enjoy a little of the American pride in their country.
If nothing else enjoy the stirring music provided by Jerry Goldsmith!
A WELL CRAFTED THRILLER - By: stuart, 27 Aug 2007 This is one knockout action adventure film with winning performances from the entire cast! This is a great film, directed by award winning film-maker Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot). Air Force One is Wolfgang Petersen's best work since In the Line of Fire (1993) with Clint Eastwood.
Harrison Ford gives a tantalizing performance as the President of the United States James Marshalll. He aboards Air Force One in order to return to his proud homeland in the United States of America from an important visit to Russia. However, the President has brought some uninvited guests...
Rogue Russian terrorists lead by Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman, in his usual villainous role) have hijacked Air Force One after masquerading themselves as nondescript journalists. Tragicallly, they've killed several members of the President's staff & have taken many more hostage. Among the hostages are the President's wife, Grace Marshalll (Wendy Crewson), & his fiesty daughter, Alice (Liesel Matthews). However, the terrorists have assumed the President has fled via escape pod, but they don't know the whole story...
Meanwhile, at the White House, Madame Vice President, Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close, in a strong performance) quarrels with the Defense Secretary, Walter Dean (Dean Stockwell). The entire staff at the White House must decide whether to negotiate with the psycho terrorists or use excessive force. As the stakes continue to escalate, several more hostages have been dispatched, but what can the White House Staff do next...
Air Force One is one terrific action thriller. It boasts breathtaking visuals & special effects, & slam bang performances from Ford, Close, Oldman, & the rest of the cast. What makes Air Force One an even better film is the fact that the characters are believable. You can sympathzize with James Marshalll's predicament, & Ford does an apex job tackling the role as the President. Ford portraits a realistic character in this film. For example, when a Russian terrorist hits Ford in the face, the audience themselves can vicariously feel the pain of the main character, the President.
Yes, Air Force One is one awesome movie that every warm-blooded patriot in America will enjoy. It has furious action & fast paced energy to keep this film head above water, & the excellent performances also make this film a true winner alll the way from the explosive beginning to the suspenseful & somewhat unexpected climax. Gary Oldman also deserves some acclaim for playing a creepy villain whom everyone can boo at. As for Harrison Ford, you will cheer at his victories, & sadden at his tougher times. Air Force One is another hit that's not to be missed!
Great Story, if far-fetched! - By: Mr. C. Frankland, 13 Mar 2007 Directing-wise its very very exciting & keeps you hanging on till the end. Very good acting by Harrison Ford!
OK, as many have said the story is far-fetched which i agree is true..
Overalll a good film & well made.
Best to rental before you buy!
Cringe-inducing and sickening - By: J. Roberts, 11 Feb 2007 
If I reallly cannot persuade you not to buy this film then you should file it under 'stomach-churning American patriotism'. This in itself is not the problem, however. The complete lack of a believable plot or even anything remotely resembling an intelligent script also go a long way to dragging this loathsome piece of celluloid into Turkeysville.
For starters, the entire film positively reeks of smug Western superiority, so much so that I was actuallly openly rooting for the Russian 'baddies' in this film. Therein lies one of the oldest & most established of American film cliches: the good guys versus the bad guys. From the start, it is totallly biased, & a blatant piece of pro-American propaganda, whilst lacking the intelligence to be anything resembling political.
Indeed, it is ridden with cliche. The basic plot outline is that some Russian so-callled terrorists hijack Air Force One & proceed to make demands on the American government, or they will execute hostages. All of this is sensationsalist & silly, touching on another favourite American cliche, that of the Russian 'bad guy'. This is just a metaphor for communism as the enemy, & I firmly believe that anyone who looks at the film beyond a surface level will see this.
The American arrogance so prevalent in Hollywood 'blockbusters' comes to the fore constantly, portraying America as 'the keepers of the world, & alll things good', with a few traces of truly stomach-churning faux compassion thrown in for good measure. I cringed & laughed throughout this 'film'.
All of the dialogue given to the American politicians is heavily imbued with traces of 'America is always right' & a general air of self-importance, topped off with the usual blustering patriotism. The makers of this film only just stopped short of having Glenn Close & Harrison Ford singing a duet of 'Star Spangled Banner' at the finale of this film. All of the political staff are cliched; with the usual array of balding men with gruff, manly voices, who repeatedly use words like 'courage' & 'honour'. One cannot help but wonder if the director of this film devoured the 'Top 1000 American film cliches' handbook...
More arrogant superiority is spewed forth from Glenn Close, who puts in one of her most unconvincing performances. At one point, she actuallly speaks the line: "How the hell did they get Air Force One?" More superiority - the underlying implication being that the USA are the Master, they are 'The Daddy'.
Harrison Ford is also suitably underwhelming, as the director of the film turns him into some sort of glorified action hero, skulking & rolling around the belly of the plane like Rambo in a three piece suit. The sad reality is, any President at any given time in American history would go to pieces if their plane was hijacked. Nevertheless, the good ol' Pres' in this film steadfastly refuses to leave the plane when trouble appears, further advancing the cliched idea of America as the hero. "Nobody does this to the U.S.", seethes vice-President Glenn Close, at one point in the film. I could almost imagine her adding: "Especiallly not those Commie ba****ds!"
The whole idea of portraying communism as the enemy has been done to death. However, Gary Oldman plays a convincing, if somewhat excessive turn as chief terrorist, shouting & swearing his way through a scarily convincing Russian accent. During one of the most electrifying scenes in the film, the President's bratty daughter scowls balefully at Oldman, at which point he makes the very relevant observation that her father is no less a terrorist than himself, except that he is responsible for deaths from behind the sanctuary of a desk, in an expensive suit. I began punching the air & rooting for Oldman's character wholehearetedly after this scene. No-one can differentiate between Mao, Churchill, or Woodrow Wilson. As world leaders, they are ALL responsible for death.
However, the demonisation of Communism here is hilarious. At one point, the Americans have to succumb to the demands of Oldman & release a notorious Russian Communist General. To the sounds of prisoners singing, the general walks through the Prison, military uniform proudly in place. I almost expected the General to start brandishing a hammer & sickle whilst being serenaded by the ghost of Marx himself, but instead, the General is shot. Oh well.
As if alll of this wasn't bad enough, the film throws in the obligatory dash of in-built White American good ol' racism, as the nice little black secretary heaps praise on her big, powerful American president, in scenes creepily reminiscent of something from 'Roots', like a black female slave being completely subservient to her white, male, plantation owner master. The racism is subtle, but it's still there.
Suffice to say, there are so many layers of cliche & propaganda here that it would take a popular culture/media studies expert several thousand years to plough through them alll. Why would they bother though, when this film is almost completely devoid of any intelligence whatsoever? Perhaps the script was written by an infant. Not a particularly clever infant, granted, & one that should be prevented from ever writing anything ever again.
As if you didn't know, the Americans win. The nasty Russian 'terrorists' are killed, nearly every American makes it off the plane alive, & everyone lives happily ever after. Surprised? I'm not.
