Edge-of-the-seat thriller in which Harrison Ford plays the US president. His plane is hijacked by a Russian baddie (Gary Oldman). Ford appears to make a break for safety in an escape pod. But of course he chooses to stay on board to save his family, his crew and democracy itself.
Meanwhile the vice president (a reasonably convincing Glenn Close) leads the operation from the White House and there are some interesting discussions of protocol, i.e., are the president’s instructions legally binding if he is incapacitated? What if you don’t know whether he’s incapacitated?
The film maintains the tension expertly and Ford is as watchable as ever. There are only two corny lines (“Get off my plane” being one of them) and it’s to the film’s credit that the villain is well developed as a character.
There’s lots of shooting, and the violence seems real and painful rather than cartoonish. You know the good guys will win, of course, but it’s exciting to find out how they go about it.
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