USA 1997
Director: Wolfgang Petersen Actors: Harrison Ford, Jürgen Prochnow
After a visit of American President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) to Russia, his "flying command post" Air Force One is kidnapped by the Russian nationalist Korschunow (Gary Oldman). By kidnapping the world's safest airplane and its high-ranking passengers, the terrorists try to force General Radek (Jürgen Prochnow) out of prison, who (in possession of nuclear weapons) tries to revive the old Soviet Union. The extremists, however, did not count on the American president's perseverance.
Should I award more than eight stars or not? It wasn't an easy decision to make. Eventually, nine or even ten stars didn't come out, although the film offers everything an action thriller needs: suspense until the end and of course lots of action. Also the main actors (especially Gary Oldman) cut a very good figure. What bothers me, however, is that there are some minor and major exaggerations. Some scenes are too unrealistic for my taste and would not have been necessary in this form. Furthermore, the film is peppered with patriotistic, heroic scenes, which doesn't necessarily have a negative effect. In short: A very good action thriller (better than e. g."Con Air", with which it is comparable).
A movie review by Jörn
