The turbulent and spectacular flight of Air Force One
In 1997, at the height of his Hollywood period, Wolfgang Petersen made his most American film possible, act explosive in a context of political crisis: Air Force One. After the success of In line of sight ANDI notifyis thus well placed to stage a violent hostage-taking on the plane of US President James Marshall, the latter taking the form of an enterprising Harrison Ford. And it serves to undermine the Machiavellian plan of Russian terrorist Egor Korshunov, played by a more intense than ever Gary Oldman.
An important role for Harrison Ford
Who else could save the world from nuclear war, starting with saving their loved ones and themselves, if not the President of the United States? An idea a priori destined for ridicule, unless it is the president in question. Hollywood icon Harrison Fordand then the director takes his job seriously enough to create a convincing show. This is what happens with Air Force One. This keeps the viewer in suspense throughout its two-hour running time, in the best tradition of the action blockbusters that marked the golden age of American cinema in the 90s (Trap on the high seas, Speed, A day in hell, Rock AND Flip/Face to name just a few).
In this incarnation of the most powerful man in the world, Harrison Ford is a delight, perfectly believable as he rediscovers his Vietnam War reflexes. A tour de force, his performance in this action thriller is considered one of the best incarnations of the President of the United States in cinema, even the best according to a 2016 Wall Street Journal poll.
For a production cost of 85 million dollars, Air Force One brings back more than 315 million at the worldwide box office. Well received by critics, who praised its effectiveness while underlining the clichés and the sabotage of its pro-American discourse, Air Force One receives two Oscar nominations that highlight his mastery of the action genre: Oscar for Best Editing AND Oscar for Best Sound. But at the 1998 Oscars, the phenomenon Titanic (11 awards out of 14 nominations) leaves almost nothing to the competition…
Air Force One avoid the mistake of Speed 2
Great success, Air Force One logically made its authors want a sequel. In May 2024, screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe spoke openly Syfy on the film, explaining that there had indeed been discussions for a sequel, with several ideas developed.
There was talk about it, but there are always difficulties with this type of franchise. There’s this “Die Hard” problem, where every time John McClane goes somewhere, terrorists show up. So we were very careful. We talked about it with the producers and everyone involved with the first film, but we never found the story that did justice to what we did with Air Force One. We set the bar very high!
Harrison was supposed to be president, still on an aircraft carrier under attack, in the middle of a geopolitical crisis. So there are things he can do and things he can’t do, so as not to make things worse… There were a lot of variations, but we never got to the point where we were all like, “Oh, this is perfect! We’re not going to repeat the first movie. We’re building on that.”
Finally, considering the damage that Speed 2 made for the legacy of Speed thinking that we could simply transfer the same plot from a bus to a cruise ship, the authors ofAir Force One they did well to maintain their own artistic line and not to give in to the sirens of the dollar, for fear of corrupting the success and soon cult status ofAir Force One.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
