Executive Decision
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Movie Reviews of Executive Decision
Movie Review: Segal dies
Summary: 5 Stars
C'mon, that says it all, man. He dies! That alone is worth this movie. (In fact, I never watched past his death, but I figured it deserved 5 stars for that alone. More movies should do this.)Movie Review: It was great!!
Summary: 5 Stars
No words can express what I feel about this movie... I just love it!!Movie Review: The movie that you will never see as long as you're flying...
Summary: 4 Stars
The film concerns a transatlantic flight, hi-jacked between Athens and Washington, D.C.
The hijackers are a group of heavily armored suicide fanatical terrorists...
Their motivation is supposedly to free a feared and wanted terrorist, recently handed over to US authorities, arrested, and taken to a warship in the Mediterranean...
The President has two options: to let the passenger fleet proceed to the United States or destroy it before it gets there along with hundreds of passengers...
Steven Seagal is the commando leader who recognizes the threat, but proposes to use a modified Stealth fighter especially designed for mid-air crew transfers, and thus allow his elite anti-terrorist unit to sneak the Boeing 747, localize and eventually disarm the bomb, and overtake the hijackers...
Kurt Russell is the Pentagon intelligence analyst, who believes that the hijacking is just a ruse, that the deadly nerve toxin is on board, and that the terrorists are planning to use it and the airplane as 'a sort of poor man's atomic bomb, to be detonated over Washington..'
Halle Berry is the brave helpful stewardess who understood the message of the striking team... She has to identify for them, the passenger who is in control of the bomb...
David Suchet is the terrorist who can endanger us all! He is Jaffa's deputy director, Nagi Hassan fanatically driven by hatred and violence... This nasty man seizes control of the air carrier and plans to kill everyone on board...
Oliver Platt is the aerospace engineer, who can isolate the bomb's power sources only if he could control his nerves...
Joe Morton is the bomb disposal expert who guides Platt through the disabling of the bomb...
J. T. Walsh is the ambitious senator who wants to be seen as the savior of the hostages, an image that won't hurt him in the presidential elections...
John Leguizamo (Seagal's second in command..) hopes for a good movie on board...
Thanks to a solid cast and plenty of action and suspense, Stuart Baird's 'Executive Decision' could be a timely reminder to one deceptively simple question: How can we stop hijackers from using planes as weapons?
Movie Review: Excecutive Decision (1996)
Summary: 4 Stars
Director: Stuart BairdCast: Kurt Russell, Steven Seagal, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, David Suchet, Len Cariou, B.D. Wong, Marla Maples Trump.
Running Time: 135 minutes.
Rated R for violence and language.
Although it is a formula that has been used time and time again, "Excecutive Decision" succeeds just as well, if not better, than the "hostage-takes-over-plane-so-action-hero-has-to-come-to-rescue" genre predecessors because of wonderful performances, an in-depth and enjoyable script, and top-tier direction from rookie Baird. Very simliar to 1992's "Passenger 57" staring Wesley Snipes, but with more emphasis on the supporting cast instead of one central star.
Kurt Russell stars as a United States government expert on Middle East terrorism who finds himself out of his office and on a die-or-die mission with gung ho commando Steven Seagal and Co. when an American airliner is taken hostage while in midair. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Seagal is killed about a half an hour into the film, allowing Russell to take full command of the film. With the help from gorgeous flight attendant Halle Berry, Russell is able to learn about the situation and guide his great supporting players John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt, and Joe Morton as to how they need to approach the dangerous situation.
If there is one major drawback of the film, it is that "Executive Decision" is fairly fairfetched and predictable at the same time--the anti-terrorist crew actually gets onto the plane while it is in the air and without the terrorists knowing--come on! But despite some of its logical fallouts, it is a film that makes up for it with a superb lead role, fine performances from Platt as a brainiac and Leguizamo as a rough-and-tough go-getter, and a gut-wrenching, thrill-ride (literally) of a finale. A nice directorial debut. One of the better action films of the mid 1990's and is on par with other plane thrillers such as "Con Air".
Movie Review: Steven Seagal goes "skydiving"
Summary: 4 Stars
The initial premise of the movie is simple enough: Arab terrorists are hijacking a plane. Through an elaborate setup that allowed them to sneak guns and explosives onto the plane, the terrorists take charge of a plane that has a senator on board, and the most incredible flight attendants ever (Halle Berry is one of them), in order to get one of their terrorist brethren released from a prison of some sort.
How will the Americans stop the plot? This is where it gets thick.
A Special Ops team led by Steven Seagal is going to fly on a stealth bomber to dock-up with a 747 where a specially designed sleeve, designed by Oliver Platt, who is some sort of genius in this movie, allows the good guys to surprise the bad guys. Seagal's team is joined by a Middle East expert of some kind, Kurt Douglas, whose knowledge in these affairs is essential to the mission for whatever reason.
The movie gives a quick shock to the viewers when, upon entry, the Special Ops team encounters some turbulence. The guy who's supposed to defuse the bomb gets paralyzed, and the best surprise of all, Seagal dies. Yes, it's a major disappointment in some ways because I wanted to see some arms get broken unnecessarily, but it helps the movie along in much more important way: the viewer doesn't have to suffer through Seagal's unbearable acting. Additionally, it's hilarious because he gets chucked from a plane at 30,000 feet.
What ensues is a race to move around the airplane without detection, defusing bombs and disarming terrorists. Will they succeed? Will they accomplish their goals before the President gives authorization to blow the plane filled with nerve agent out of the sky?
It's an exciting enough movie with talented actors, tension, drama, and a mostly believable plot-line. I enjoyed it and I recommend it as a late-night action fix.