Date: Fri 13-Feb-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Harrison-Ford-Air-Force-One

Full Text:

(rev "Air Force One" for Now Playing)

The Ford Administration: `Air Force One' Vastly Entertaining

By Trey Paul Alexander III

New to video this week is the hit movie Air Force One, one of the most popular

films of 1997, and a recent recipient of high praise from former President

Gerald Ford in last week's Entertainment Weekly (he gave the film a B+, noting

it has "...great action and great performance. Just like politics."). The

ex-President was not alone in giving a "thumbs-up" to the Ford administration

(Harrison, that is), as American audiences, polled by Cinemascore after seeing

the film, gave it their highest rating and recommendation.

And no wonder Air Force One has garnered all these high accolades. It's a

rousing crowd-pleaser that proves vastly entertaining even the second time

around. This Harrison Ford vehicle is a terrific example of what a summer

movie should be: expertly crafted, well-acted and smartly scripted, pushing

all the right buttons without insulting the audience by coming across as

another heartless, filmmaking-by-the-numbers, big-budget production.

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen ( Das Boot and In the Line of Fire ), Air Force

One gives us a gallant President James Marshall (Ford), who begins the film by

giving an impassioned speech in Moscow in which he commits the United States

to crushing injustice around the globe and vows never to give in to terrorist

threats. When one of the first sentences out of his mouth is, "Never again

will I allow our political self-interest to deter us from doing what we know

to be morally right," you kind of get the hint this is not one of those other

movies with a week-kneed or philandering Commander-in-Chief (in fact, it's

refreshing to hear the leader of the Free World speak, in no uncertain terms,

about "the right thing to do"... but then, don't get me started on that soap

box).

His political stance is quickly challenged when the Air Force One , the jet,

that is, is hijacked in mid-air by Russian nationalists who seek the release

of their rebel leader. Under the command of a driven terrorist (played by Gary

Oldman), who speaks of returning "Mother Russia" to her former glory, the

group parleys with Vice President Katharine Bennett (Glenn Close) and, to

speed up "negotiations," threatens to kill a passenger every 30 minutes until

their demands are met.

Unbeknownst to both his White House staff and his adversaries, President

Marshall -- thought to have fled in his escape pod -- is lurking in the

plane's underbelly and seeks to foil the terrorist plot, action-hero style.

Yet the film cleverly gives him this meaty dilemma as he weighs the

consequences of his actions against the danger it imposes upon the hostages

above him, especially his wife and daughter, and the conflict within him shows

wonderfully on Ford's face.

In fact, the conviction in Ford's performance does much to completely sell Air

Force One, which surprises for its unabashedly patriotic posture. At a time

when the office of the Presidency is demeaned nightly on talk shows by

wise-acre comedians, this high-minded chief/family man and his derring-do (a

combination of John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart) gives new meaning to Teddy

Roosevelt's "big stick" approach to politics. It also fulfills, even if only

for two hours, our desire for a larger-than-life national leader of unwavering

integrity.

Air Force One, rated R for violence and occasional profanity, also does well

to play it straight, not letting itself get caught up in campiness or cliche

(though it admittedly is not exactly breaking any molds in the genre... but

then, that's part of its appeal: it works within and around certain

conventions to ultimately furnish an awfully exciting, slick entertainment).

It also supplies a dash of wit, as evidenced in a sequence in which Marshall

has to consult a user's guide before he can utilize a portable phone to place

a call to the White House (for which he momentarily forgets the number).