I was really mad at AIR FORCE ONE for being lousy popcorn. It was at least one half hour too long, and I was very disappointed in Wolfgang. He just lost it somewhere. I read some review that called it a "geriatric cartoon" and that really hit it on the head. Yes, it was a waste o' Jürgen, but then, he probably showed for half a day, caught up with an old pal, earned eight times my yearly salary and walked off happy. More power to him. He was still the best damn thing in it. I had to go rewatch IN THE LINE OF FIRE to get the taste of disppointment out my mouth (it worked). And Harrison Ford's OK by me too, so I still can't quite figure out what was such a let-down. I hope that Petersen's hand will be steady on the helm of THE PERFECT STORM, and that the bracing salt sea air will bring him back to his good senses. (His production company is moving into television now -- have you heard? Please Jürgen DO NOT DO SERIES TV!!!)
I hate not liking this more than I do. This is one of the few Jürgen movies I saw when I didn't know what I was watchin' - in other words, who the hell's Jürgen Prochnow? Not being quite enough of a credit junkie to have paid any attention to the credits on DAS BOOT any of the 100 times I'd seen it (that being a foreign movie & all), the name completely escaped me and I certainly didn't recognize him. Well, you don't have much time for that with this one, do you?
I didn't know who he was at the time, is what I'm trying to say. Things have much changed since then, of course.
I merely watched it because everyone else was raving about it. They still do. I have two problems with AIR FORCE ONE:
I want the level of disbelief-suspension established up front, and I want it adhered to. They do real well until toward the end, when one thing after another happens that just makes you go, "Oh, come ON!" It seems like it could have been a real story, kind of, for such a long time and then they get really silly. I don't want to watch an action movie for an hour and a half and then have it turn into a fantasy. Ticks me off. (Ask me about SPEED II sometime. Yee-ha!)
I also didn't like Glenn Close's character, though I seem to be a lone voice in the wilderness on that one. I keep seeing praise for having had a female U.S. Vice President in this movie, and most of the audience seems to have viewed her as a strong and wonderful character. No, she wasn't. She was a wimp. Uncertain of herself; had trouble making decisions; let all those men walk all over her most of the time. The only "strong" thing she did was to refuse to sign that order, and she was wishy-washy about that too; she darn near DID sign it, and after she pushed it away she looked like she was afraid somebody would hit her.
I much preferred Wendy Crewson's First Lady.
On the other hand, the movie looked good; fabulous collection of performers; it's excitin', all right; and good popcorn if you're not disturbed by the idea of 30 people with NO TRAINING parachuting out of the back of a plane without getting splattered all over the landscape. Or somebody hanging off the back of a plane with a fireball right behind him. Or that cable trick between the two aircraft. Or...