Movie review - Air Force One Is Down

Air Force One Down *1/2 (out of 5) (R) How many times have you seen this plot: terrorists take over a big (_________); they easily overcome the people who were there to protect it; one brave soul manages to kill or overcome them all and foil their plans. Fill the blank with a battleship or train and you get Under Siege 1 & 2, from when Steven Seagal was still watchable. A high rise or airport? Die Hard 1 & 2. A hockey rink during the NHL finals? Sudden Death with a young Jean Claude Van Damme. Commercial airliner? Wesley Snipes in Passenger 57. Air Force One? President Harrison Ford.

These films have two things in common: among even more similarly themed movies, these are just the titles that came to mind while I was watching. Secondly, they’re all better than this.

New US President Edwards (Ian Bohen) negotiated an oil contract with a made-up Eastern European country. It’s vigorously opposed by factions of both nations for an assortment of vaguely-defined reasons. He’s flying there to seal the deal in person when AF 1 is taken over by the minions of a self-styled general (Rade Serbedzija) from the other country to force our Prez to renounce the agreement. No explanation for why he didn’t target their own close-at-hand leader, who would certainly have been easier to abduct.

Before that, we meet new Secret Service Agent Miles (Katherine McNamara) whose uncle (Anthony Michael Hall) happens to be the head of White House security. When one of the guys assigned to this flight calls in sick, she joins Unk for the journey. Guess who’s gonna wind up having to save the day against overwhelming odds? Too easy? Guess who will win. Too easy? Guess the body count along the way.

Enjoying this requires suspending far more disbelief than needed for the aforementioned combined.

There’s no accounting for how so many armed thugs could possibly get on board with their weapons. The extent to which the general can control every aspect of the flight, including misdirection that keeps the rest of the world from detecting the plane’s forced change of course, makes even less sense. Throughout the ordeal, characters on both sides do a bunch of things to seem more inept or illogical than they’re supposed to be. And don’t get me started on the cliched personae and tedious dialog.

On the plus side, McNamara is a pleasure to watch, especially during her fight sequences. The dancing part of her early career adapts well to the ass-kicking part of her role. The stunt team, set designers and cinematographer are the real stars in this otherwise missable retread that seemed longer than its 84 minutes.

(Air Force One Is Down opens in theaters 2/9/24 and becomes available on digital formats 2/13/24)