Executive Decision starts as intelligence analyst for the US Government Dr. David Grant (Kurt Russell) learns that middle Eastern terrorist El Sayed Jaffa (Andreas Katsulas) has been captured & handed over to US officials to stand trial. Meanwhile in Athens, Greece an Oceanic Boeing 747 headed for Washington D.C. is taking off, shortly into the flight a group of Islamic hijackers lead by extremist Naggi Hassan (David Suchet) forcibly take control of the air-plane taking hostage it's 400 passengers & crew. Naggi demands the immediate release of Jaffa (cake?) & safe passage to Washington, in a high level meeting Grant says he believes that a large amount of a deadly nerve gas that would be enough to wipe out the entire Eastern seaboard is on the plane ready to kill millions of Americans. A plan is quickly devised to board the 747 in the air & take out the terrorists before the plane reaches US airspace. What could possibly go wrong?
Directed by Stuart Baird this is the big budget action flick that may make uncomfortable viewing these days after the events which occurred a few years later & you know exactly what I'm talking about. The script by producers Jim & John Thomas is your typical Hollywood action fare, the patriotic American military charge into some dire situation & save the day, the hostages & America. Don't get me wrong because this is a perfectly decent & entertaining action film although I would lean towards describing it as more of a thriller as most of it's running time is devoted to the disarming of a bomb & the race against time before the terrorists get a chance to use it on America. It's just that it makes for strange viewing after world events, the plot of middle Eastern terrorists who hijack a plane & intend to use it to create widespread destruction & death cuts a little close to the bone these days, don't you think? Anyway, this has a few plot holes & a few far fetched coincidences like the only guy who can defuse the bomb happens to break his neck, the military team who always just about manage to avoid being seen & someone being able to land a 747 without ever having actually been inside the cockpit of one before. When all said & done though Executive Decision isn't anything more than a big budget popcorn flick with some memorable set-pieces, a likable main hero, some eye candy, lots of guns, shoot-outs & explosions along with fairly tightly paced story. Executive Decision is pretty good for it's type actually, you could do a lot worse.
Making his directorial debut Baird does OK, he keeps the one-liners & wisecracks down to a minimum although I did think it went on for about 15 minutes too long & I think a two hour duration would have been better. For those interested Seagal dies fairly early on & doesn't get much screen time which I thought was an odd choice because at the time was a rising star. The violence isn't overly excessive, there's a fair amount of gun play & gory gunshot wounds but not much else. The action scenes are quite well done with the climatic landing of the 747 probably the best sequence although some of the model shots look a bit fake.
With a supposed budget of about $55,000,000 Executive Decision had enough cash spent on it so it goes without saying this has the look & polish of a big budget Hollywood flick, it's well made with a good star studded cast including Kurt Russell who I've always liked, Steven Seagal who apparently at first refused to film his death scene because he thought his fans wouldn't like it (I wish he was that considerate regarding some of his latest films!), John Leguizamo, the ever awful Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, the ever excellent David Suchet & the imaginatively named Ahmed Ahmed!
Executive Decision is a solid big budget action flick that I liked if not because it kills Seagal off early on & I've always liked Kurt Russell, however it's sometimes not an easy film to watch considering world events & at well over two hours it's a bit too long. It has a strange sort of feeling but it's a good film none the less & what subsequently happened in real life wasn't it's fault. One for action junkies.
Directed by Stuart Baird this is the big budget action flick that may make uncomfortable viewing these days after the events which occurred a few years later & you know exactly what I'm talking about. The script by producers Jim & John Thomas is your typical Hollywood action fare, the patriotic American military charge into some dire situation & save the day, the hostages & America. Don't get me wrong because this is a perfectly decent & entertaining action film although I would lean towards describing it as more of a thriller as most of it's running time is devoted to the disarming of a bomb & the race against time before the terrorists get a chance to use it on America. It's just that it makes for strange viewing after world events, the plot of middle Eastern terrorists who hijack a plane & intend to use it to create widespread destruction & death cuts a little close to the bone these days, don't you think? Anyway, this has a few plot holes & a few far fetched coincidences like the only guy who can defuse the bomb happens to break his neck, the military team who always just about manage to avoid being seen & someone being able to land a 747 without ever having actually been inside the cockpit of one before. When all said & done though Executive Decision isn't anything more than a big budget popcorn flick with some memorable set-pieces, a likable main hero, some eye candy, lots of guns, shoot-outs & explosions along with fairly tightly paced story. Executive Decision is pretty good for it's type actually, you could do a lot worse.
Making his directorial debut Baird does OK, he keeps the one-liners & wisecracks down to a minimum although I did think it went on for about 15 minutes too long & I think a two hour duration would have been better. For those interested Seagal dies fairly early on & doesn't get much screen time which I thought was an odd choice because at the time was a rising star. The violence isn't overly excessive, there's a fair amount of gun play & gory gunshot wounds but not much else. The action scenes are quite well done with the climatic landing of the 747 probably the best sequence although some of the model shots look a bit fake.
With a supposed budget of about $55,000,000 Executive Decision had enough cash spent on it so it goes without saying this has the look & polish of a big budget Hollywood flick, it's well made with a good star studded cast including Kurt Russell who I've always liked, Steven Seagal who apparently at first refused to film his death scene because he thought his fans wouldn't like it (I wish he was that considerate regarding some of his latest films!), John Leguizamo, the ever awful Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, the ever excellent David Suchet & the imaginatively named Ahmed Ahmed!
Executive Decision is a solid big budget action flick that I liked if not because it kills Seagal off early on & I've always liked Kurt Russell, however it's sometimes not an easy film to watch considering world events & at well over two hours it's a bit too long. It has a strange sort of feeling but it's a good film none the less & what subsequently happened in real life wasn't it's fault. One for action junkies.