Jeri Jacquin
Coming to 4K Ultra HD, Bluray, Digital in SteelBook from director Wolfgang Peterson is a thrill ride in the most famous planes with AIR FORCE ONE.
United States President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) is in Moscow at a dinner where he gives a speech making it clear that the U.S. ‘no longer negotiates with terrorists’. That sets a few nerves on edge but Marshall, wife Grace (Wendy Crewson) and young daughter Alice (Liesel Matthews) along with the press corps and a advisers return for the trip home on Air Force One.
What they don’t realize is that a man named Egor Korshunov (Gary Oldman), a loyalist to a man named General Radek (Jurgen Prochnow) who has been imprisoned by Russia. As easy as it looks, that’s because Korshunov has inside help and when the big move is made, the plane becomes a place of chaos. Secret Service try to help Marshall escape and the plane to land. Instead, the president and passengers are captive and the plane diverted to Kazakhstan.
But Marshall isn’t any ordinary president, he is a veteran of Vietnam and still has a few moves up his sleeve. Managing to call Vice President Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close), now everyone is on alert as to what is happening and Korshunov realizes that Marshall is on the loose. Threatening the president’s family, Marshall begins to take matters into his own hands with a plane that puts Korshunov on notice that not negotiating means just that!
Ford as the president gets an opportunity here in 1997 to be a bad-ass president. He may not be the loudest voice in the room but that’s because he processes everything happening around him. I’d rather that than all the ridiculous shouting. One step at a time Ford shows up as a man of action but with steps that are calculated and he makes it look easy and intense which is always an awesome combination.
Oldman as Korshunov is as awesome as I would want him to be. Let’s face it, the guy could do a sit down in a red velvet jacket in a high back chair reading the phone book and I’d be happy. What makes Oldman amazing his that what ever role he plays, he molds it, shapes it and presents it in a mesmerizing way to a glad audience. From vampire to futuristic shady businessman to a Gotham commissioner, Oldman knows what to give his characters that make them memorable.
Close as VP Bennett has just as much gumption as Marshall has and she certainly isn’t going to let a room full of twitchy fingered men lead her around by the high heels. I love when Close gets worked up because it rains awesomeness! Crewson as wife Grace is a thrilled First Lady until she gets a taste of the real world that a president deals with on the daily. She gets a chance to scream as only a mother would. Matthews as Alice has a few choice words of her own to say to the bad guys and I backed her up with a ‘yea, what the kid said!’.
Other cast include Zander Berkeley as Agent Gibbs, Alan Woolf as Russian President Petrov, Donna Bullock as Press Secretary Melanie Mitchell, Michael Ray Miller as USAF Axelrod, Carl Weintraub as USAF Ingraham, Bill Smitrovich as General Northwoodm, Levan Uchaneishvili as Sergei Lenski, Dean Stockwell as Defense Secretary Walter Dean, Paul Guilfoyle as Chief of Staff Lloyd Shepherd and William H. Macy as Major Norman Caldwell.
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AIR FORCE ONE is available on 4K Ultra HD, Bluray, Digital and neatly packaged with cover artwork in an awesome SteelBook.
Bonus Features include on 4K Ultra HD Feature presented in 4K Resolution with Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos +5.1 Audio and Theatrical Trailer. On Bluray the Bonus Feature include Feature Presented in High Definition, 5.1 Audio and Commentary with Director Wolfgang Petersen.
AIR FORCE ONE is a film that just made the 90’s so much fun, intense and awesome at the theatres. To say they don’t make them like that anymore is speaking the truth. The film gave drama, high intensity, action and a shift at every turn. Seeing it on the big screen with a tub of popcorn with Harrison and Oldman going at it was a thrill all its own.
Now, it is back! On my 75” with sound bar, I am back in the theatres with a tub of popcorn in a recliner cheering for the president and throwing popcorn at the screen’s bad guys. Except now the whole family has the chance to get in on the fun. Director Petersen definetly thought this story through before putting it on film and gave us what a true action film should look like.
In the end – the fate of the nation rests with the courage of one man!