IMDb user comments for
Executive Decision (1996)

advertisement

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 12:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Index

113 comments in total

---

22 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
one word: dynamite!, 12 April 2002
Author: Special-K88

Slam-bang thriller is an intense, pulse-pounding thrill ride from beginning to end. Russell stars as a smart but inexperienced intelligence analyst who's given the task of a lifetime when he, along with a group of rugged special forces commandos, must board an American 747 in mid-air after it's hijacked by ruthless international terrorists. It's a race against time as they must not only ensure the safety of all the passengers, but retake the plane before it can reach the U.S. eastern seaboard. Swift direction, exciting, skillful action sequences, endless suspense, and rock solid performances make this wild ride of a movie a definite must for action fans. ***

---

17 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
Even Seagal is good!, 4 January 2003

Author: counterrevolutionary from Spokane, WA

A fun, tense, and exciting action/thriller with an excellent ensemble cast, headed by Kurt Russell and including Halle Berry, David Suchet, and John Leguizamo.

Even Steven Seagal does a creditable job, mainly because this isn't a "Steven Seagal movie." His supporting role permits him to do what he does best (which isn't acting). He doesn't have to pretend to be witty, there's none of that awful smirking he does in a vain attempt to show emotion, the camera doesn't caress his body, and there's not one speech about how gol-dang *good* his character is. He even manages to enunciate his lines clearly!

The plot might have seemed a little far-fetched when the movie was released, but not anymore.

I'm not even much of an action film fan, but this one is really a lot of fun.

---

15 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Tons of Suspense, Almost Too Much, 5 June 2006

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

Most of this movie is simply one extremely long suspense scene as a team of Americans try to board a passenger jet, disarm a bomb and capture terrorists. After a 10-15 minute opening to set the story up, the rest of it (two hours) is the constant suspense of whether the mission will succeed and what happens along the way. With that much tension for so, the movie would have been more effective had it been cut 15-20 minutes.

However, it was never boring. It was far-fetched, however, but many action movies are just that, and this story wasn't stupid, by any means. I expected such with Kurt Russell and Steven Segal in it, but those two were much more subdued than usual.

Oliver Platt, Halle Barry, John Leguizamo and Joe Morton rounded out a very diverse and solid cast. This is one of those films that really grabs you the first time you see it, but after that, loses its appeal since the suspense is over. Definitely recommended for those who like to sit on the edge of their seat and be entertained.

---

13 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Escapism with a touch of reality, 4 July 2005

Author: Katz5 from Arlington, VA

I saw this in 1996 and thought it was extremely entertaining--an action movie with emphasis on suspense over shoot-em-up thrillers and explosions. Seeing it again, after the events in the past 4 years, is a different experience. Some of the fictional dialog has actually been quoted by fanatics in the news. I had the same reaction with Black Sunday with Robert Shaw. A movie meant as pure escapism is now more like "what if." Executive Decision does ask you to suspend disbelief several times, especially near the end. I would rank it up with Air Force One, which came out a year later and delivers the same type of "suspense over explosions" entertainment. And this film deserves extra kudos for making the ones that save the world a bit on the "misfit" side (Oliver Platt, John Leguizamo, Joe Morton, BD Wong, and yes, even Kurt Russell). Another nice slimy role for late character actor JT Walsh. And David Suchet makes a scary villain. Like the best villains (Alan Rickman from Die Hard comes to mind), he can be charming and terrifying at the same time.

---

14 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Different After 9/11, 27 July 2004
Author: fischcj from United States

Like my review of "Air Force One", the counterpart of this movie which came out the following year, this movie takes on a whole new element in the post 9/11 world. When released, a terrorist taking control of an airplane and using it against American Citezens as a bomb seemed the stuff Hollywood would make up and produce. After those shocking events, however, the movie takes on a quality of realism that it didn't before, and unlike the aforementioned "Air Force One", is superior in many ways.

First off, the cast: Kurt Russell, Steven Seagal, and the star-to-be Halle Berry star. Russell proves himself as a versatile Character Actor. Afterall, his previous role was that of a Special Operations Soldier in the Sci-Fi hit "Stargate", and in this movie he plays an intelligence analyst whom Special Operations Soldiers despise, and pulls it off well. Seagal completely convinces you he is the Soldiers Soldier that he is supposed to be. And Halle Berry, well, she deserves that Oscar she later won, and her abilities are showcased here. She was not the star then that she is today, and this is perhaps one of her many breakout appearances.

Second, all branches of the Armed Forces (save the Marine Corps) have a chance to shine in this movie. It shows a true devotion among the men who serve the United States. The Special Ops guys are Army, the delivery pilot is Air Force and the Tomcat Pilots are Naval Aviators along the lines of Maverick from "Top Gun".

In conclusion, this is a good movie that is under-rated, and in the wake of 9/11, seems that much more real.

---

21 out of 38 people found the following comment useful :-
The movie that you will never see as long as you're flying.., 22 November 2003

Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

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?

---

3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Life reflects art., 4 December 1998

Author: Shawn Watson (gator_macready@yahoo.com) from The Underverse

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

In the modern world, Exec Dec strikes closer to home than it originally intended as it eerily foreshadows 9/11 and other acts of terrorism. It makes for a perfect flip-side companion piece to Paul Greengrass's little-seen United 93. In the world of Exec Dec the heroes save the day and America wins. In United 93 (and the real world) life isn't that simple. But since this was made 5 years prior to 9/11 it should be judged purely as entertainment and not as any political statement.

Kurt Russell plays David Grant, a counter-terrorist expert who is called into the Pentagon when a group of crazed Muslim extremists taken over a flight from Athens to Washington DC. After blowing up civilians in London, they demand that their recently captured terrorist leader El Sayed Jaffa (think O.B.L.) be released and that they be given millions of dollars in gold bullion. Grant, suspects that this is merely a ploy to get into US airspace to set off a massive bomb rigged with huge supply of DZ-5 poison gas.

Their only apparent option is to blow the plane up over the Atlantic, killing everyone on-board and sinking any evidence that they might have. But Colonel Travis (that's Steven Seagal folks!) suggests hooking up the 747 with a modified Remora stealth bomber while it's still in the air so he and his commandos can kick some terrorist ass. Dragged along for the ride, Grant and computer nerd Dennis Cahill (Oliver Platt) are to supervise the link-up and identify Cell Leader Nagi Hassan (David Suchet) from the Remora. But the link-up faulters and only 4 commandos plus Grant and Cahill make it on-board. Travis is killed and the Remora is destroyed, along with most of their equipment.

With only a few hours before the plane reaches US airspace and the bare-minimum of equipment the group have to sneak around in the crawlspaces of airplane attics, cargo bays and elevator shafts searching for the bomb and spying on the terrorists.

It's highly intense, superbly photographed and expertly edited entertainment. What first attracted me to Exec Dec was obviously the casting of Russell and Seagal but link-up with the Remora and the 747 is definitely one of the most unique action scenes in the past decade and was the major selling point of the film for me.

I do realize that Seagal has many critics and most of them judge him far, far to harshly and play up his characters death in this film claiming that the only good thing about Exec Dec is 'the death of Seagal 10 minutes into an extended cameo'. Which is a totally foolish and untrue thing to say. Seagal is in the movie for a full 45 minutes before he dies. Which was done to shock the audience into believing that if Seagal dies then any of the cast could be next. And even if you're a Seagal hater (understandable considering his recent poor output) don't let that overshadow the rest of the film which is, in it's final half-hour, so exciting that you'll be so on the edge of your seat that you won't actually be sitting on it.

It does lose some of it's power when compared to the horror-show that is United 93, but like I said, they are either side of the same coin. In the world of Executive Decision the terrorist attacks of 9/11 would never have happened. And if 9/11 was an always inevitable event, then I guess the film IS far-fetched. But it was made pre-9/11 for entertainment, nothing else, so I guess I can forgive it for being so.

---

5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
executive decisions, 8 November 2006

Author: bodinsoul-1 from romania

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I had the impression that the movie was made after 9/11 but I was surprised to know that was made in 1996!

Anyhow it looks like a low-budget, amateurish movie. For example: -- the governmental staff don't look too tense, the crisis meeting looks like a coffee lunch. -- some lines are crappy. Example: Seagal tells to K.Rusell" Somebody has to do this. Who would do it? You?" or "A camera would work? Yes! Do you have a camera? No!" -- the two connected planes scene is too incredible to be true -- the terrorists are occasionally very polite. -- In one scene the terrorists allow the pilot to go down in a lower compartment. Why they don't go themselves too? And why, after looking into the room, the master-plan doesn't see a body who was laying on the floor? -- Why the air Marshal was on passenger list as "armed"? Besides he didn't look like an air Marshal but as a retired buddy who likes fishing? -- Why Kurt comes into mission in a suit (but before action he changes the clothes lol)? Besides the engineer is also dressed up. -- The commando guys want to switch off the light and attack. They have infrared goggles except...Kurt.

---

11 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Surprise!, 29 July 2004
Author: thomas-110 from Copenhagen, Denmark

I am usually very picky about films and rarely watch action movies that don't have a nostalgic value but somehow I tuned into this one and I couldn't take my eyes off it. We're dealing with a flight hi-jacking and the situation has been seen before, but the way this story is told surprised me in a positive way.

It's trying to be realistic, and succeeds! Credits to the screenwriters for writing a story that everyone thinks they've seen before and still keeping the intensity throughout the film. Good acting from Kurt Russel, Oliver Blatt and especially John Leguizamp. This is an action-movie well worth watching. My rating: 7/10

---

2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Where's Seagal??, 19 June 2007

Author: kennethpete from Denmark

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Executive Decision is really nice. It's extremely exciting through the entire movie. The only thing that really SUCKS is that Steven Seagal 'falls' out of the movie almost in the beginning of it. You don't even see him again in the ending of the movie. He's in it for like 15-20 minutes in the beginning, and only say's like 5 sentences. Then when they are about to go on board while the plane is flying, Seagal falls out of the plane. When that happens you think:"Then how will get on the plane now? He has to. He's the main character." Then you think:"Of course the plane will land, and Seagal will be there and own them all." He's not. But actually the movie is pretty good without him. In my opinion it would have been better if they didn't use him at all. On the other hand, I probably wouldn't have watched the movie then.

It's obvious that his name has only been used for attracting audience. Because of that detail I only rate the movie 8. Else it would have been 9.

---

---

Page 1 of 12:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Add another comment

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Amazon.com summary	Ratings
Awards	Newsgroup reviews	External reviews
Plot keywords	Main details	Your user comments
Your vote history