Executive Decision Full Movie Download 720p

[Cecelia Seiner]

Iprefer ED to AF1 now - when they are on TV, I'll stick around for ED and skip AF1 usually.

A funny cross-over: in the pilot of NCIS, Gibbs (Mark Harmon) uses AF1 to know something is up. [W is president.] (loved that show since the beginning...)

rlaWTX -

What's interesting is a friend of mine, who likes to make fun of me for enjoying ED so much, agrees with me, too. And AF1 has been on TV a lot lately, which gave me the idea for this article.

I've seen a handful of NCIS episodes but I'm not entirely clear what the gag is. Can you elaborate?

Scott, I like ED better as well. I always feels like a shark jumping moment when they include the president in films and Ford strikes me as too hammy to be the president. Plus, as you note, all the fluff.

Scott, I got a chance to watch both recently, which is good as I hadn't watched them in years. I agree entirely with your analysis.

AF1, while the bigger film, strikes me as less believable, more cluttered, and melodramatic. ED strikes me as more streamlined and more interesting.

I think it's fascinating seeing these two films side by side to see the similarities and the differences, especially with two films beigns o narrow in terms of what is possible within the film because there is only so much you can do on the airplane. It's almost like these are remakes of each other.

Now, all that said, I think both films ultimately think too small. Compare this film to Flightplan. I think Flightplan had a better, more tense story than either of these and I wonder if that isn't because Flightplan made a decision to focus on the characters more than the plane itself?

Doc -

Presidents don't bother me per se but I see what you mean. I only thought the dialogue was hammy; if the script had been given a polish, I don't think Ford's acting would've been a problem. Besides, he was less president and more "generic action hero."

Scott and Doc, With rare exceptions, I feel that using presidents is like blowing up a city -- it's the film version of the nuclear option: if your story isn't strong enough, just make the good/bad guy more important... and nothing is more important than the President.

In fact, a film I really lament is Absolute Power because it pushed thrillers to the nuclear level by having the president commit the crime. And once that genie was out of the bottle, all the other thrillers followed. Suddenly every single thrilled involved a corrupt president. Stupidity.

Scott, I am a huge believer in subtlety. If there's one thing I have learned from extensive reading and writing, it is that people respond so much better when they are forced to do a little work to "earn" the story. That's why hints are better than reveals, why subtle schemes which may or may not be real, and which even the characters refuse to believe at first are so much stronger than the blunt force so many films use to tell stories.

That's what Flightplan has going for it. You spend half the film not even sure if what is going on is real or if she's just imagining it. And then she has to convince people, which adds so much conflict. By comparison, in AF1 and ED the conflict is all action scenes with brief fake moments of betrayal added in.

It would be interesting to re-write AF1/ED as something more subtle and see what we could produce using more brains and less action.

Scott, Nice analysis. I enjoyed both movies enough when I saw them, but haven't rewatched them. I think the whole "Russian terrorist" feels like a cop out. And films which start with a cop out lose me.

RE NCIS: the guy holding the "football" dies on Air Force 1 after being invited to eat BBQ with the Pres (W). Death is investigated as attack on Pres. President has been removed so plane isn't AF1 anymore, and Gibbs gets to look around it. He makes comments about what is different in the plane's design than in the movie AF1. He is told that it is a new model of plane. Because first one's a crime scene, president uses an older plane as AF1. Gibbs cages a ride on that one and realizes that the new updates would make an attack harder than on the old one. Figures out that the "football" holder was killed so they'd go back to old model. Thwarts attack by vetted member of press corps who is really a sleeper terrorist. YAY! The End.

Andrew -

In the commentary for Armageddon, Michael Bay says he hates seeing presidents in movies and, as an example, cites the (then recent) film Contact in which Robert Zemeckis inserted Bill Clinton. Obviously, he wasn't a main character but I could see where his presence would take you out of the film (and the effects weren't great to begin with).

In Bay's case, he later ate his words and put W. in Transformers. :-)

I saw Absolute Power for the first time just last year. It was okay and I didn't have a problem with the president as a character, especially with Gene Hackman playing the role. I can see where having a president as a main character limits the story because there are only so many things a president is capable of.

Ed -

Yeah, I guess "Russian terrorists" are more PC than "Islamic terrorists" though I believe there is still good material there. And AF1 was made in the 90s when you could still do Islamic terrorist villains.

Andrew and I briefly discussed this once: basically, what good villains are left? Between Islamic terrorists, Russians, homegrown terrorists, North Koreans... what's next? I guess we haven't seen a good eco-terrorist film but I doubt we will anytime soon. :-)

Scott, Nice comparison. I have to say, when they came out I actually confused the two. I saw the first one and then saw the ads for the second and I thought they had re-released it. So it took me a while to see AF1. I liked it better for the simple reason that I'm a huge fan of Han Solo. But in terms of sheer movie, ED is the more fun experience.

ScyFy -

Thanks. I, too, am a fan of Han Solo (and Indy) but at this point, Harrison Ford was simply playing "Harrison Ford" (I say that as a fan - some actors just get into that mode). I'd love to see him do a big action movie today without the words "Crystal" or "Skull" in the title. I know he's getting up there in years but I still buy it. :-)

Yeah, it's weird to have two hijacking movies in as many years but we've had two asteroid movies in the same year, along with two animated bug movies, two volcano movies, and just last summer, we had two movies about friends with benefits (one of which was titled Friends with Benefits).

For me, it's a little closer than I imply in the review but I agree that ED does a little better in the "fun" department.

And, speaking of multiples - I'm trying to decide if I'll see both Mirror, Mirror and Snow White. One has Julia Roberts and the other has Kristin Stewart (Twilight's Bella) [who they think is prettier than Charlize Theron - puh-leaze!]

Scott, My problem with Absolute Power isn't the film itself, which wasn't anything special. The problem is that thrillers (like action movies) have become about one-ups-manship. Once one thriller uses the president, then all thrillers must use the president or something bigger thereafter, the same way as when you blow up a city in a disaster flick, then every other disaster flick to come thereafter must blow up at least a city. It eventually leads you to the point that all thrillers become the same thing, just like all disaster films or all action films become the same thing.

Yeah, the need to one up the last big film is a huge problem and I don't see it ending anytime soon. Sooner or later, they stop making that type of film and a decade goes by and then someone tries it again.

rla, I think us Twilight-haters should all be extremely grateful for the success of The Hunger Games. Because you just know that Jennifer Lawrence is going to snap up at least half the roles Stewart would have gotten.

Scott, they're all bad. I have only seen the first one (though I shall watch the second one this weekend, with friends and RiffTrax attached), but I have no qualms whatsoever about making such a blanket statement.

Miss Lawrence was not at all on my radar until I watched HG, but I can say with certainty that all the good things being said about her and her acting are absolutely true. And then I read this last night and instantly got a crush on her.

Scott, I think the one-upsmanship is the reason so many film stink today -- because they've decided all they really have to do is be "BIGGER" than the last one rather than better.

I would be happy to see Lawrence replace Stewart as the new go-to "young chick." Lawrence even sounds like a decent, grounded girl. Stewart, apparently, is the little troll she appears to be.

Andrew -

I think it's worse with comedies. At least in an action movie, I can enjoy a good car chase. It can still be good if they add vehicles and other things, as long as the basic laws of physics are followed (obviously, this doesn't always happen).

But with comedies, especially of the gross-out variety, it gets worse and worse. Someone puts a bodily fluid in their hair, then the next film features someone drinking it, and so on and so forth. I'm no prude but many times it's done as a crutch. It can be funny but few filmmakers know when to reign it in.

Speaking of Stewart :-)

Nice. Being described as "tired" is not a good thing.

It is worse in comedies, but again that's because Hollywood isn't doing anything original right now -- they are using a formula and simply trying to make each scene a little bigger than in the last film.

Hopefully, at some point the bubble will burst.

I have to agree with everyone and say great write up and I always preferred ED over AF1. Though AF1 was great in places ED was a better and as someone else has said a more streamlined movie.

One of the things that I really liked about ED that no one has mentioned is that Stephen Segal was advertised as one of the 'stars' and they do the (at the time) unthinkable and kill him off in the first third of the movie. It was such a surprise and kept me guessing about what else they might do.

I'm also surprised that you didn't mention Passenger 57 staring Wesley Snipes which was made in 1992 which predates both movies by at least 4 years. It was made only a few years after Die Hard, the only reason I can think you didn't mention it was that you didn't see it, didn't like it or left it out as Wesley didn't spend enough time on the plane.

Scott.

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