Executive Decision (1996) Warner Bros./Action-Thriller RT: 133 minutes Rated R (language, strong violence) Director: Stuart Baird Screenplay: Jim Thomas and John Thomas Music: Jerry Goldsmith Cinematography: Alex Thomson Release date: March 15, 1996 (US) Cast: Kurt Russell, Steven Seagal, Halle Berry, David Suchet, John Leguizamo, Joe Morton, Oliver Platt, B.D. Wong, Len Cariou, Whip Hubley, Andreas Katsulas, Mary Ellen Trainor, Marla Maples Trump, J.T. Walsh, Nicholas Pryor, Eugene Roche, Charles Hallahan, Dey Young, Richard Riehle. Box Office: $56.5M (US)/$121.9M (World)
Rating: *** ½
Despite what the ads for Executive Decision may claim, it is NOT a Steven Seagal movie. In fact, he’s only in it for a short time. No, it stars Kurt Russell (Escape from New York) as David Grant, an intelligence consultant called in to help Col. Travis (Seagal) and his team of commandos deal with a group of Islamic terrorists who have just hijacked a 747 bound for Washington D.C. The lead hijacker Naji Hassan (Suchet, Iron Eagle) threatens to kill the passengers unless the US government releases the terrorist leader (Katsulas, The Fugitive) they recently took into custody.
There a good reason Grant’s in intelligence. He’s intelligent. He realizes almost immediately the hijacking is merely a gambit for something bigger. The terrorists have in their possession a large supply of a powerful nerve gas that Hassan plans to release when the plane reaches American airspace. There’s enough of it to take out the entire U.S. Eastern seaboard. Since the Pentagon is hesitant to shoot down the 747, it’s decided that Travis and his men will board the plane mid-air and take down the terrorists in a sneak attack.
Travis has every reason to distrust Grant. He blames his faulty intelligence for the failure of a mission to recover the stolen gas from a mafia safe house in Chechnya a few months prior. Nonetheless, Travis insists on Grant coming along with them to oversee the operation. They also bring defense engineer Dennis Cahill (Platt, The Three Musketeers) to help diffuse the bomb that will release the gas.
The mid-air transfer of the ops teams is to be accomplished using an experimental military plane with special capabilities. They’ll fly under the 747 undetected and attach itself to an entry hatch with a large airtight tube through which the commandos will sneak onto the hijacked airliner. As is typical of risky operations, something goes wrong. SPOILER ALERT! It results in the loss of most of the team’s equipment and Col. Travis who’s sucked into the jet stream and killed. Despite being considerably crippled by this development, the team along with Grant and Cahill must deal with the situation themselves. Since the suits back at the Pentagon have no way of knowing they made it onto the plane alive, time is a major factor. If they don’t find a way to make contact before they hit American airspace, they’ll move onto Plan B and everybody dies.
I know I’ve made Executive Decision sound like every other action flick of the 90s, but I assure you it’s not. If anything, it more closely resembles the action-thrillers they used to make in 70s before simplistic actioners starring Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Norris became the new fashion. I suppose you could call it Airport ’96; all that’s missing is George Kennedy and a cast of screaming has-beens like Norman Fell, Jimmie Walker and Charo. The only passengers you need concern yourself with is a senator (Walsh, Good Morning Vietnam) looking to score political points by successfully negotiating a peaceful resolution, an Air Marshal (Riehle, Office Space) hiding his identity from the terrorists and an unknown sleeper agent holding the bomb detonator. There’s also Jean (Berry, Monster’s Ball), the flight attendant Grant recruits to help them locate the sleeper agent among the passengers.
Executive Decision is one hell of a movie! It keeps the viewer of the edge of his/her seat throughout its entire 133-minute running time. It has its share of genre clichés like Cahill and the team’s bomb expert (Morton, Terminator 2) working feverishly to disarm the bomb so the others can make their move to neutralize the terrorists. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but it’s thrilling nonetheless thanks to the tight direction of first-timer Stuart Baird, an editor whose credits include Lethal Weapon 1 & 2, Tango & Cash, Die Hard 2, The Last Boy Scout and Demolition Man. The guy clearly knows how to make an effective action movie.
Russell, one of my favorite actors, is a great leading man. He’s likable and relatable. Here, he plays a guy thrust into a situation he’s clearly not qualified for yet still steps up when the need arises. When we first meet his character, he’s taking flying lessons. What are the odds he’ll be called upon to fly the plane in the climax? I’d put money on it, a lot of it. In any event, you can add Executive Decision to his list of triumphs although I don’t recall ever seeing a bad performance from him, not even in the live-action Disney movies he made as a young man. Yes, that includes Superdad.
I like that Seagal doesn’t let his ego get in the way in turning the reins over to Russell. Call it a belated mea culpa for inflicting his public service message-as-action movie On Deadly Ground on the moviegoing public. He does a decent job with his limited screen time which includes an opening scene that allows him to show off his moves. Berry is also quite good as the flight attendant who’s scared but still courageous enough to stand up to Hassan. In that role, Suchet makes an effectively detestable villain. You’ll see a lot of familiar faces in Executive Decision including John Leguizamo (Carlito’s Way) as the new team leader, Len Cariou (Blue Bloods) as the Secretary of Defense and Marla Maples Trump (the former Mrs. Donald Trump) as a flight attendant.
Executive Decision benefits from a storyline that’s as intelligent as it is silly. Sure, the plot is far-fetched, but the heroes use their smarts to come up with a viable plan of attack rather than storming in with guns blazing. It takes a little while for the action to kick in, but it’s worth the wait. The action scenes are exciting and well-mounted. My only real gripe is the writers dropping the plot thread about the imprisoned terrorist leader right after he’s released. I’d like to know if he gets recaptured or killed or whatever. Oh well, it’s just a small glitch in an otherwise fun, flawless action-thriller, the mind worth going to the movies to see. Even better, it has a high repeat watchability quotient. I’ve seen it a few times and never get bored of it. It’s a popcorn movie done right.
