25 May 2012

No Seagal ,No Problem

This review is from: Executive Decision (DVD) This is a very ironic movie, it came out only 5 years before the 9/11 attacks. its plot is very similar in a way to what happened on that day, or what could have been done to prevent the incident. Sure enough the movie is fiction, most of what is seen would work up to a certain point. Either way the movie is a great effort at demonstrating what could be done in a time of crisis. A commercial airline is taken over by Islamic extremist; the main terrorist is Nagi Hassan, at first it seem that his demands is that the U.S. must release a man named Jaffa or they will suffer the consequences. But an analyst named Dr. Grant (Kurt Russell) believes different, his belief is that Hassan doesn't really want Jaffa's release; instead Grant believes the plane is carrying DZ-5 (an extremely dangerous explosive) and that he will detonate the plane killing millions of Americans. Grant, Colonel Travis (Steven Seagal) and a group of trained soldiers are planning now to take control of the plane with a special stealth plane that can attach to its commercial airliner. At first when I heard there plan it didn't feel realistic, but they do it just right, making it quite believable. For Seagal fans like me, let me tell you that this is not a Seagal movie. This is a Kurt Russell movie. Seagal is in the movie for tops 20 minutes. It seems that Seagal had some issues with the producers and his role was minimized. Funny though you can tell in some instances that Seagal doesn't want to be in it; he does give a good supporting role but we have seen better. Anyhow the movie is fantastic, a bit dated in some areas, but overall good. The major problem I have is with the DVD, it's horrible, the picture quality is crappy; Warner needs to re-release this remastered MY PERSONAL RATING: 4 OUT OF 5

24 May 2012

Very Good, But Couldve Been Better

This movie was pretty good. I was disappointed when Steven Segal died before anything REALLY good happened. if you like movies that are all action, you might like this one, but it is mostly tactical army stuff throughout, with about 15-20 minutes of action at the end. if you like Kurt Russell, than you would probably like this one.

zBirdman

22 May 2012

Excellent action film, and truly beyond belief...

First off, I'd like to say that this is, without question, my favoriteSteven Seagal film of all time. His acting talents have never before beenmore appropriately utilized in a film. Secondly, this is the movie that proved that Marla Maples is the humanequivalent of a book cover with no book. She is pure wallpaper in this film,and even this stretches her acting abilities to the limit.That being said, 'Executive Decision' has a completely implausible plot, andyet the film works very well as a whole. Like 'Die Hard' and 'Die Hard 2'(AKA: 'Speed'), there are elements to this film that simply require atremendous 'suspension of disbelief', but the story flows smoothly and thecharacters are strong enough that it makes for a very cohesive, enjoyablefilm. Halle Berry is quite good; J.T. Walsh is, and always was a real standout(R.I.P); but I think it's Kurt Russell that really makes the film 'fly'.He's kind of like a combination of Bruce Willis in 'Die Hard', Nicholas Cagein 'The Rock', and Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan in any of the Tom Clancyfilms, and if it wasn't for him I believe this film would fall flat.After the tragic events of September 11th 2001, the plot takes on a verydifferent feel... just a little too close to reality. Interestingly enough,when the film was originally released, there were protests about the 'unfairportrayal' of Islamic terrorists. I think history has now proven this to bea moot point. Neither I, nor the film, suggest that all Arabs or all Muslimsare terrorists, but knowing that people like these terrorists clearly existmakes it all the more chilling. All in all, it's a great roller-coaster of a film. Highly recommended.

22 May 2012

being boring

This film is very boring. Of course if you're silly enough to think that anyof Hollywood movie might have no happy end, you will enjoy watching it. Youmight guess, if Grant and his wooden-headed commandos win etc. If you'reclever one, you certainly know from the very beginning that all theterrorists will be abolished (without single sacrifice from good guys'side)and this bomb will not be detonated etc etc etc. Honestly, to show thatthere were no need to invent over 2 hours of boredom!Well, the only reason why did I watched this movie, was David Suchet'sacting. He is a Great actor and his acting was the best in this stupidstereotypical movie. I'm so sorry that such a great actor wasted his time toperform in this GOVNO.

TheEdge-4

19 May 2012

Underrated action thriller that was ahead of its time

Why "Executive Decision" is not better known is a mystery in itselfsince it is easily the equal of the other top examples in the actionthriller genre such as "Die Hard" and "Speed". Furthermore, since itsrelease in 1996, events have overtaken it so that once what was seen asunlikely Hollywood fiction has taken on a different complexion sincethe events of 9/11. In fact a film which features a suicide bomber in arestaurant in London and a plot to crash a 747 into Washington D.C.with enough nerve gas to wipe out the Eastern seaboard of the UnitedStates would be unlikely to be made today, so closely does it resemblerecent current events.However, this alone is not the only reason for recommending this filmfrom start to finish. The film itself is a class act both in front andbehind the camera. There are good performances from the entire cast,including Kurt Russell, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, B.D. Wong, JoeMorton, Oliver Platt (who never gives a bad performance), David Suchet(refreshingly underplaying his villain in the same way that AlanRickman did in "Die Hard") and even Steven Seagal rises to the occasionhere. Behind the camera, editor Stuart Baird succeeds in hisdirectorial debut in making a tense thriller that relies on suspenserather than being a simple shoot-em-up. Baird is one of the besteditors working today and it is a shame that none of his subsequentefforts as director have matched this one. With a great script from Jimand John Thomas (a surprise considering their previous hit,"Predator"), an excellent score from the always brilliant (and sadlymissed) Jerry Goldsmith (who manages to excel himself here - no meanfeat given the quality of much of his previous work), great editingfrom Baird, "Die Hard" editor Frank Urioste and Dallas Puett, someclassy camera-work from the great British cameraman Alex Thomson and agreat 747 set from production designer Terence Marsh, the whole film isan example of what happens when you get a good team of people togetherand let them do what they do best.Sadly only the end lets this film down. It is obvious from the verybeginning that Kurt Russell will have to fly the plane at the film'send and the sequence in which he has to fly the plane while Halle Berryreads from the manual is silly, further let down by some lame specialeffects (which is a shame because a majority of the film's effects areexcellent). A lesser film might have got away with this but thesequence jars so badly here only because the rest of the film is sogood by comparison. Nevertheless this is still a throughly recommendedfilm that deserves to be better known than it is.

Bamse-Bear

19 May 2012

heehe

One thing I can't understand is that Steven is one of the head-actors inthecredits and so on... I mean, even on imdb he's the second. BUT, he isn'treally a part of the movie. Well of course he is, but he dies in thebeginning of the movie... well... Can't say I'm sad aboutit...anyway, when I saw it on my TV here in sweden the commercial went on like"kurt russell, steven seagal, in ......." I mean HELLO. It would bebetterif it just was an unknown actor. well well, cya

ryan larson

16 May 2012

Formula with a missing link...

As a Seagal fan I have to say that this film has the intrigue of thefamousSilver-Seagal personality dispute. The film in its final version appearschopped up. The film starts with Seagal and builds an interestingrelationship between Seagal and Russell-Seagal lacking respect for the"Escape From L.A" star due to poor intelligence. The film builds and thenkills Seagal off suddenly, almost as if it was injected into the film outofforce. Although a masterful job at making Seagal's absence work, it isclear that this was intended originally as a Seagal film with Russell asthesecond bill-yet somewhere along the way there was a falling out betweenthetwo (a.k.a Critical Decision). The film still pulls through as athriller,however the absence of the action icon leaves the film contrary to theopinion of the critics. Another black mark in the career of the troubledactor.

David krasnow

16 May 2012

Very good! A very-suspenseful action film with a great cast.

This film was excellent. A truly great cast and a fantastic storyline. Arabterrorists hijack a commercial airliner and they somehow got a very largenuclear bomb on board and plan to crash it in a suicide-attack in WashingtonDC (unknown to the passengers). So a team of special-ops soldiers (Russell,Seagal, Leguizamo, and 2 others) get on board the plane in mid-air byattaching their fighter jet to it, and they attempt to save the plane beforeit is too late. This is one of the greatest action films I have ever seen(even better than Air Force One and Passenger 57) and is full of suspensethat will keep you on the edge of your seat. Halle Berry is excellent as aflight attendant who tries to help the team out. My only complaint is thatSteven Seagal was in only a few scenes (he is killed early in the film).Feel free to email me with any questions or comments.

16 May 2012

Worst Movie of All Time

I haven't seen this movie in years and don't remember much about the specifics but I still remember how much I hated this propaganda laden travesty. When I think about the worst movies of all time this movie is first on the list followed by the baldwin movie where the main character shot dark matter balls out of his hands (that should give you an idea of how much I dislike this movie). If you like the propaganda that sets characters up as completely perfectly evil and absolutely perfectly good this is the movie that will make your fear control you more then ever. This is the movie George W wanted you to see as he was seeking approval for his profit driven war. This movie is the epitome of propaganda. Weak minded fools beware.

15 May 2012

probably one of the best action movies ever

this movie keeps you on your toes the entire time and its so cool to watch it unfold. It is kind of reminisent of 9/11 so if that bothers you maybe you should skip it but this is a great movie

Moeez

13 May 2012

A movie like Air Force One

It is good family movie. Halle Berry is one of the good actress. The situation that has been created in this film is great

13 May 2012

Oh brother!

Such a dumb movie. Sad, sad! Even Steven Seagal wanted out! You will too!

zeekmati

12 May 2012

Good watch, suspenseful

I thought this movie was pretty darn good. It had a lot of suspensethat lead up to a great final action sequence and decent acting. Ithink a lot of people are saying that the storyline is somewhatcontrived because it deals with Islamic extremism, which by now hasbeen done to death. In 1996, however, it was the "in" thing to do sincemovies with Soviets were dying down due to the end of the cold war andsince it had not been explored as much before that.In general, the characters are believable but the bad guys are a bittoo over the top evil. Maybe I am only saying this because I couldn'tactually imagine someone having such an evil plan to destroy theeastern seaboard of the US. But that's just me.All in all, a good watch and a good example of how the 90s have some ofthe best action/thriller movies.

unome_02446

11 May 2012

What could be better than Steven Seagal dying?

SPOILER ALERT> I've always thought Steven Seagal movies were lame andwasn't too happy whena couple of my friends brought this one back from the video store. Themovie is actually a pretty good thriller, but I just loved it when Seagaldied. It was a tacky attempt at heroism, but it was so early in the filmthat you don't remember anything about him being in it, except that theacting was suddenly so much better.

Enver

11 May 2012

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this movie was really good, it was really thrilling, and ecxiting, the movie will keep you guessing and guessing, kurt did a good job, but halle did an AMAZING job, this is a must see film, watch it youll love it

FisherMysticCom

10 May 2012

Stevens Segals best movie.

I have watched a lot of movies that star Steven Segal, and this is theclosest that comes to being the best of them. Under Siege was good too,but this was a better made movie. Kurt Russell was good as well as JohnLeguizamo, Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, and Joe Morton. They all givebelievable roles and are very heroic. The late JT welsh was excellentas the slimy Senator who wanted to get public attention by negotiatingthe release of the hostages. As for Segal, he doesn't hurt the movievery much with his acting, because he's only in the first 50 minutes ofthe movie. I recommend this for anybody who wants two hours of solidgood fun.

Marc Mulder

07 May 2012

Any movie with Seagal in it, well................

Maybe I am not the person to ask, but when Steven Seagal is in a movie,I just have to see it however big or small his part is in the movie. Iam a fan and I have collected all of 'his' movies. I am a bit sad thathe is getting a little older, but I watch the movies in a differentperspective. His moves aren't what they used to be but in this movieyou don't notice that at all ;-) On a serious note, the movie is wellworth watching because of the plot. It's not that it is original but itis one of the best executed in it's genre. It makes you wonder if theterrorists have watched some of these kind of movies and got inspiredto do something similar. Enjoy the movie!!!

Ferran Veciana Romeu

06 May 2012

My Seagals favourite Film!

Yes, i don't like Steaven Seagal, his films are nasty, but this film is thebest of Seagal. He does nothing, he dies. Perfect. Superb. My question iswhy he appears in the portraid of the film? Publicity? Lot of my friendsdidn't come with me to see this film because the name Seagal was in itportraid. I watched the film loonely. The day after I said to my friends:Goto see this movie, enjoy it, and if you don't like I will pay your ticket.Finally They went to see it.... at the exit of cinema they kissed me andsaid: Thanks!please see this amazing action film.

04 May 2012

Great thrilleraction movie

This is a great movie. It kinda reminds u of air force one another great movie. Kurt Russell is a great actor and shows it in this movie. A great storyline and i would recomend this movie to anyone. The R rating is unnecessary though and i think that any person at least 9 and older could watch it. It is only R really because of the one scene w/the suicide bomber and then a few swears here and there. And is somewhat violent but no worse than say The Fast and the Furious, which is another great movie. And theres not really alot of f-bombs-1 or 2. This is once again a great plane movie. Everyone should see this movie.

04 May 2012

A great way to spend a little more than two hours.

Terrorists hijack a jumbo jet with over 400 passengers. Terrorist expert Dr David Grant (Kurt Russell) believes that the terrorists have nerve gas bombs on board and therefore, they can't let the plane enter US airspace, since the nerve gas could probably destroy the entire Washington DC. And they don't want to shoot them down, since that would lead to a big scandal. Instead, they send up a special military unit, led by Lieutenant Colonel Travis (Steven Seagal), to get on board the jumbo jet and take control over it. This turns out to be even more difficult than they had thought.This is an action thriller that unfortunately doesn't seem as unrealistic now as it would've done some months ago, and some people would maybe prefer not to watch it because of the recent attacks. On the other hand, it could be interesting to watch because of that. Either way, it's a very good and well made movie. It's not so different from Air Force One and if you liked that one, you'll probably like this one and vice versa. Steven Seagal's role is actually quite small, he's out of the movie after approximately half an hour, or even less, and you don't miss him. Kurt Russel, Oliver Platt, Halle berry and the other actors are good. If you like quality action movies, here is one that will keep you at the edge of your seat for a little more than two hours. I really liked it!