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To cheering crowds, Marshall is shuttled back to Airforce One for the long trip home. It promises to be a routine hop, though Marshall's wife Grace (Wendy Crewson) and 12-year old daughter Alice (Liesel Matthews) are along to keep him company. However, beyond the usual state business organised by Chief of Staff Lloyd Shepherd (Paul Guilfoyle), there is a Russian news crew to consider. Invited on board by Press Secretary Melanie Mitchel (Donna Bullock) they're bound to monopolise some of Marshall's precious time. Fortunately as the plane climbs into the darkening sky, crew leader Egor Korshunov (Gary Oldman) allows his men to luxuriate and keep out of harms way. The problem is that events then take an unforeseen turn; as smoke pours down the aisle, Korshunov uses the armoury to equip his team, allowing them to take-over the plane.
In a lethal hail of small-arms fire, crewmembers, staff and visitors scatter in panic. Those secret-service agents left standing rush to Marshall and begin to hustle him away. Their aim is to bundle Marshall into the escape-pod and evacuate it, regardless of whatever else is occurring on Airforce One. Marshall, unsurprisingly, is adamant that he will not leave his family behind, yet wiser council prevails - nothing is more important than the maintenance of National Security. In Washington, Vice President Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close) is hastily alerted to the crisis. However, like Defence Secretary Walter Dean (Dean Stockwell), she is in the dark as to the status of Airforce One. Is the President alive? Did he manage to jettison from the hijacked plane? What do the terrorists want? Does she have the presence of mind to govern? These are all questions that will be answered, in the fullness of time.
A fairly undistinguished addition to the "President in danger" genre, Air Force One is chiefly notable for showing just what a good director can do with poor material. Wolfgang Petersen is reasonably well known for Das Boot and In the Line of Fire, both of which suggest an affinity for intelligent action films. Well, in this case Petersen is landed with a preposterous script; to make up for it he lifts the quota of stunts, explosions and running battles to a new high. As soon as Korshunov bursts onto the scene, Marshall is effectively forced into a one-on-one conflict. Firmly on the side of good, decent, freedom-loving folk, Marshall is both a family man and a decorated soldier. In true black and white fashion, Korshunov is utterly immoral, evil and without a single redeeming feature (never mind that he believes in his actions). Devoid of ambiguity and subtlety, Air Force One is perfect fodder for the jingoistic masses.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Air Force One is Ford's movie. Well versed in the moves needed to create a character of untarnished morals and sensitivity, yet also unassailable in close-quarters combat, the role is a breeze. Ford is immovably solid; he carries the movie with ease. Unfortunately no one else matches him, either because they don't bring enough depth to the role or their part is underwritten. Oldman, for example, does nothing new; he merely explodes with rage at the appropriate moments and simmers with paranoia elsewhere. Close, meanwhile, does almost the exact opposite; she is stony-faced throughout and given far too little to work with. In a failed attempt to create an emotional connection with the First Family, both Crewson and Matthews are cute, if bland. The problem is that they mouth stock phrases, rather than words of meaning. Plunging deeper into the credits unearths more missed opportunities, such as the ludicrously small part of Major Caldwell assigned to William H. Macy. This is just not an actor's movie.
One of Petersen's strengths is his ability to create an overpowering aura of danger, smoothly mixing plot elements to great effect. In Air Force One there are moments where this talent breaks out, using an impending climax to ensure that our perceived time slows to a crawl. Unfortunately these high points arrive sporadically and have a violently brief lifetime, for several reasons. First, as soon as each cat-and-mouse game commences, a switch to the White House disrupts the flow of the action. While some attempt at compensation is made with a Washington power play, it's no substitute. Second, Ford is forced to methodically take out every one of his enemies, which takes far too long. Surely someone else could have helped him out? Finally, Andrew W. Marlowe (the writer) makes the cardinal mistake of imposing artificial time limits all over the place. Instead of allowing the drama to emerge from within, he tries to rush things; no wonder Air Force One grows steadily more unbelievable, culminating in absurdity.
Ultimately Air Force One lacks the human dimension which made Das Boot so compelling; without this there's nothing to make the passenger's peril emotionally inclusive. Instead Petersen caters for the rabid patriot, washing away all validity with unbearable levels of saluting and gung-ho heroics. This is no Das Boot in the air, by a long way - it's merely Independence Day all over again.
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