Air Force One
9/1/97 Update
8/25/97 Update
8/18/97 Update
8/11/97 Update
8/7/97 Update
(Note from Phil: Haven't seen this movie so no plot summary and only one brash reflections from me but no doubt more nitpickers will pick nits so I thought I'd start a file.)
Brash Reflections
This whole nitpicking thing seems to be really catching on! From what I understand Rueter news service even reported that President Clinton did a little of his own nitpicking with this movie. While he recommended it, he noted that Air Force One has no escape pod and back door. He also comment that the Secret Service doesn't have the arsenal depicted in the movie. Also, Time magazine had an entire sidebar dedicated to nitpicking the movie! (They didn't call it that but . . .)
Reflections from the Guild
[Note from Phil: I have not verified these but they sounded good to me!]
Joseph Pintar of New Hartford, NY: I just saw Air Force One. This is a very entertaining but overlong movie, with one crisis too many (terrorists on the plane, MIGs shooting at the Air Force One, Harrison Ford flying the plane,..you get the idea). It also had plotholes you could fly the real life 747 through. Harrison Ford's presecence helped a lot.
I don't why this movie is rated R. There are more gruesome deaths in the PG-13 rated The Lost World.
I found the actual takeover of the plane unbelievable. They get a Secret Service agent to help them. He kills some of his fellow agnets. He unlocks the weapons cabinet (which I read doesn't exist on the real Air Force One). The terrorists only have to walk a short distance to get to it from the press section of the plane!! They successfully take control of a plane with both highly trained Secret Service and military people around. There are several things that bother me here. The movie never explains how they recruited the Secret Service agent in the first place. I don't believe me that they could. Why is it only a short distance from the press section to the weapons cabinet? That is the last place I would want to put it near. Finally, I find it difficult to believe that they could be successful.
What is with the Secretary of Defense? He sounds like he never studied the Constitution. When the President is not around, the Vice President is in charge, period. He has no claim to authority. Even if the Vice President were not there, the Secretary of State is the highest ranking Cabinet official. That reminds me, where is he/she? I don't recall anybody being called the Secretary of State in the movie. This is definitely a foreign issue here, his/her authority applies.
A President of the United States who happens to be a medal of honor winner is on the plane. Wow, just like the paroled prisoner who happens to be an army ranger on board the hijacked airplane in Con Air, or the Navy SEAL who happens to be on board the boat and train in the two Under Siege movies, and the cop who happens to be in the building and airport when terrorists attack in the Die Hard movies. Enough already!! At least Executive Decision was original in that the troops had to board the plane midair.
If that's not bad enough, the President, a former pilot, tries to fly the plane! Just like in Executive Decision (trivia note: Harrison Ford recently got his pilot's license and owns a plane in real life).
The press secretary while on the speaker being killed was a direct ripoff of a similar scene in Die Hard.
The midair rescue looked like a cross between the midair scene in Cliffhanger and Airport 1975.
In the scene that Harrison Ford has his hands up behind his head just after the cellular phone reaches the White House, his hands lower just like he did in the Fugitive before he jumped into the water. I saw this and thought he was going to jump again.
The president orders an air strike on his own plane so he can get away? Okay.
8/7/97 Update
Jason Liu: Overall, a good movie. A lot of fun. Granted, as my fellow Guild
members have already pointed out, there are plot holes big enough to fit Air
Force One. But, then again, what movie is complete without nits?
In my opinion, the Secret Service agent the terrorists bought
was an idiot (but maybe that's why they were able to get him). After the
battle for control of the plane begins, Gibbs (was that his name?) had ample
opportunity to help out the terrorists. After all, the President himself
gave Gibbs a gun and charged him to help defend the hostages against the
terrorists. At one point, he and the Air Force Major (played by William H.
Macy) are holding one of the terrorists while the other hostages sneak to
the lower deck. Gibbs could have easily killed the major, since no one else
was watching, and then let the terrorists go down and get the hostages
again. This is assuming that he wanted to stay with the Secret Service (he
did mention at the end his desire to "protect" the next President of the
U.S.). If he wasn't worried with keeping his role a secret, then he could
have just stopped everyone himself. And did no one question why Gibbs, who
appeared to be the ranking agent on board, did not go out there and fight
the terrorists during the initial takeover? I would think that an agent of
his position would be expected to rush out there right away?
Speaking of William H. Macy, I thought it was a bit odd that his
character (the aformentioned Air Force Major) did not seem to have any
knowledge of flying a plane. I would think that a commissioned officer in
the Air Force would have to have some flight experience (then again, what do
I know about the Air Force? There's gotta be someone in the Guild who can
answer that question).
Responding to Joseph Pintar's comments about the Secretary of State
- wasn't he on the plane? I thought he was the guy at the dinner (besides
the National Security Advisor) and in the limo. However, as Joseph
stated, there seems to be no mention of the Secretary of State in the movie.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if Air Force One really has
computerized countermeasure systems?
Benjamin Puntch: A pretty wicked good movie overall. I did notice a few things while I
was watching it, though.
The arsenal contains three different kinds of weapons, M-16s, MP5s,
and another H&K gun I can't remember the name of. Why? Why not just
have one kind of weapon so that all the clips fit all of the weapons, it
would make more sense.
The first daughter's shirt changes from a plaid flannel shirt to a
gray sweater back to a plaid flannel shirt during the course of the
movie.
When the evil secret service agent kills the three agents at the
beginning, the large blood spot on the wall appears before he actually
shoots the second agent. In addition, the blood appears to splatter
upwards, when the agent was firing downwards.
I still enjoyed it, though.
Richie Laskaris: I saw Contact and Air Force One today--Contact was better, though it
does have some disappointments...Air Force One has the better nits,
though.
When Gary Oldman's "news crew" is taking a tour of the plane, they are
told it is bulletproof; later, some MiGs attack and strafe a wing with
machine guns, setting an engine on fire. A friend of mine pointed out
that it may have been the *inside* of the plane which was bulletproof,
and not the outside. But wouldn't the outside more likely be hit by
gunfire? Besides, when some of the terrorists follow Harrison Ford into
a narrow corridor (leading to the restrooms?), they shoot no fewer than
three doors before opening them to see if he's hiding behind them. The
bullets go clear through the doors and into the back walls. Again,
maybe only the outside of the fuselage was bulletproof and not the
inside or the wings, but that would be awfully bad design!
And the Secret Service (double-) agent, Gibbs, is a tough nut to crack.
By the end of the movie, all his terrorist buddies are dead, nobody has
yet suspected him of being the inside man (in fact, nobody on the plane
even mentioned the possibility of such an accomplice existing), General
Radek has been shot while being released from prison, and Gibbs goes and
blows his cover in a last-ditch attempt to off the President--for which
he'd get nothing. He had it made already: all he had to do was keep
his mouth shut and wait to be rescued with everyone else, and no one
would have been the wiser. He didn't have to prove anything to anyone
because, once again, all the other terrorists were dead.
(Note from Phil: And now for a different opinion . . . ;-)
Alexander Shearer: Wow. Bad movie. Bad, bad movie. I thought it would be cliched, sure,
but it was roundly awful. Bad/overacting, unbelievable lines, and general
plot goofiness.
The CGI stuff created some of the most notable nits. Beyond the fact
that it looked bad (especially any scene involving parachutes, and Air Force
One crashing)...
Fighter aircraft don't make turns anywhere near that tight (Remember
Independence Day? Same problem).
The Hind helicopter touching down at the prison looked really bad as
well. It had that "light" effect (some of the dinos in JP and JP:tLW had
this same problem).
During the aborted landing attempt, Air Force One swerves badly,
chopping through some trees with its wing. This includes the landing gear
ripping a big trench in the ground. I'm incredulous that the gear survived
any of this torquing, and that the plane remained stable.
Non-CGI nits:
The air combat had a host of problems. Given that those planes are
practically sitting right on top of each other, the missiles take far too
long to make it to their targets. This is especially true of the one which
was intercepted by the F-15 - they had time for AF-1's crew to notice and
announce their lack of countermeasures, have that comment repeated to the
F-15 pilots, and then have one of the pilots move his plane in between
missile and target. In addition, those Mig pilots must all have turned off
their radar detectors, or how else did they not realize that the F-15s had
targeted them, locked on, and fired? As a final nit (all I can think of
right now) the F-15 commander announces an ETA of two minutes. It isn't even
close to two minutes when they show up (which is good, as six Migs would
have easily splashed an airliner with two minutes of free time).
The midair refueling lets me finally have a legitimate jet fuel nit.
The jet fuel is supposed to have been sparked by the refuelling probe
hitting the surface of AF1. Unlikely. Then, the flames are supposed to have
successfully (and slowly) moved up the probe (which is spewing fuel /out/ at
very high pressure) and blown the KC-130 to bits. Right.
Another one for the F-15s: The commander orders them to drop tanks
and go to afterburner. I'm not sure, but it looks like the nearest plane
doesn't drop its tank and just goes straight to afterburner.
Phil - guess what cable news agency has its name and anchors used
repeatedly in this film? :) (Note from Phil: Um . . . Disney?!)
Anyway, it was a really awful movie. As a final bit of evidence, I
may note that it included a cheesy coup-de-grace line by Ford: "Get off my
plane!"
Joshua Rosenfield of Lee's Summit, MO: (Not really a nit.) Was it me, or did the F-15 fighter jets seem a little too manuverable? They reminded me of the Rebel fighters in Star Wars.
Quite clearly, the landing and takeoff towards the beginning of the film was totally impossible. Too much stress was put on the planes wheels, and the couldn't pull up that fast on a takeoff.
8/11/97 Update
Alexander Shearer: On Richie Laskaris' comment on Gibbs making a last-ditch attempt to kill
the president:
Actually, that wasn't the point. Really, Gibbs wants to maintain
his cover to the very end, but then a problem comes up: They can only save
one last person! The obvious choice here (at least for the good guys) is
the president. Gibbs suddenly realizes that if he stays in character any
longer - he dies! Thus, he shoots the major and tries to get rid of the
president. Gibbs is just trying to save his own skin! He couldn't sit and
"wait to be rescued with everyone else" because they could only rescue one
more person before AF1 hit the water.
While I'm nitting Richie's nits: When I heard the press secretary's
comments, I assumed that she meant that the plane's hull was immune to
small arms fire. This is an important bit of exposition, since it explains
why gun battles with autofire weaponry can take place without instantly
decompressing the entire plane (which would happen if even one round
punctured the hull). Generally, it would be very hard to armor a plane of
that size against 20mm cannons (which the planes use) and still have it fly
with a full passenger load. The only real point is that some goon with a
gun can't crash the whole plane because he doesn't understand pressure
differentials.
As a side note, the "cabinet action" sequences back in Washington
really seemed like a made-for-TV movie to me. I forgot to mention that
before.
Simon Crowley: Hmm...decent movie. Wasn't great, but it wasn't that bad, either. But
there were sooo many nits.
When AFO makes the non-landing in Germany, all those little people go
running away from the plane. This is, quite literally, a WHIRL (Wouldn't
Happen In Real Life). All those little Germans would go in the jet
intake and out the back, in about five hundred million little pieces.
And those Russian terrorists must have been too obsessed with "Mother
Russia" to think about posting more than one guard outside the hostage
room. Get real.
Did anyone think little Alice's tears looked kinda fake? I think I saw
an eyedropper there... (but she was a good actress, otherwise).
Umm, when they shoot Melanie and carry her away, where do they put her?
(Drop her out of the plane...$5.00 fine for littering). Oh, and after
they do get rid of her, there's only a little bit of blood on the arm of
the chair. But towards the end, there's a big spider-webby looking
blotch of blood on it.
OK, here's a little, itty-bitty nitty little pickiest nit EVER: After
Mr. Russian goes flying out of the plane with a broken neck, the Prez
goes up to his daughter and runs his blood-covered hands through her
hair. But she's still squeaking clean. Explanation: fake blood dries
FAST, and it doesn't come off easily once it's dry.
All those happy people floating down to earth couldn't happen, not from
15,000 ft. Above 12,000 ft., there's a little (mis-spelled) condition
called hypoxy. It results from lack of oxygen. You'd be turning blue and
rocking like crazy under the little 'chute. Oh yeah, and why didn't Gary
Oldman-what's-his-name shoot down the paratroopers? (I know, I know,
"AFO doesn't have weaponry." Why not? They have everything else!)
And now, assorted random nits: dumb terrorists, wires being cut with
BUTTER KNIFES!, Russian AK-47s on an American plane, lots of really
lucky guesses, etc., etc.
Oh, yeah: AFO is rated "R" in the States, but up here in Canada, it's
only PG. And believe me, Steven Spielberg presses the PG-13 rating
really far in TLW. (Hey, Phil, start a file!).
Danny Wiese of El Cajon CA: I thought this was overall a good movie. I
thought the terorist took over the plane way to easily. And haven't we
seen enough Russian terorist in movies already. I didn't like the crash
of AF-1 at the end. The part of having an escape pod was a little
[silly]. The scene when the evil secret service shot the other scene was
strange, I think he might have been able to kill two of them but the
third guy was able to get his gun out and he didn't shot! When Liberty
24 I belive the name was sent a guy on a wire to AF-1 why didn't they
send some parachutes along with him then have everybody jump out the
back of the plane. Speaking about sending the guy on the wire to AF-1
and hooking the wire to a hook that just happen to be in the door
frame, this was supposed to be a very risky last ditch effort, do you
think that the designers would put in a hook for just such a situation,
or does it have some other purpose that I don't know about. I hardly
know anything about jets and how much fuel they have but I thought the
F-15's were in the air for a long time. When the terorist took over the
plane and put all the hostoges in the confrence room they locked the
door from the outside, doesn't it seem strange that they would have a
door that can only be lock and unlock from the outside.
8/18/97 Update
Bob Cascella of Falls Church, VA: Saw this yesterday, and I thought it was an absolute blast! The many nits did not keep me from enjoying the suspense. Two hours went by
very quickly.
First, I would like to add to some comments from other guild members:
Joseph Pintar questioned the R rating. I agree. I am not 100% sure,
but I think there may have been no profanity throughout the entire movie!
I am fairly certain that the F word was not used. Truly amazing these
days.
Richie Laskaris mentioned the bullet holes in the 3 doors down the corridor.
My nit about this scene is that the pattern of the bullet holes didn't
make sense. In all three cases, the pattern was somewhat spread out
in sort of a zig zag pattern. The short bursts of machine gun fire
would have left a straight line pattern, or perhaps an arc.
Mr. Laskaris also mentioned that Gibbs had nothing to gain by offing
the prez at the end. True, but it had gotten to the point that only
one person was going to get off, so he had to save his own life by killing
the prez. If there had been enough time for everyone to get off the
plane, he would not have blown his cover. Now that I think about it,
they could have let Gibbs survive without exposing his role in the hijack.
Then would be set up for Air Force One 2. Air Force Two? Air Force,
Too? whatever...
Alexander Shearer mentioned problems with the refueling scene. In addition
to what he said, I am certain that the tanker plane would have an automatic
flow shut off in case of a problem. It would not have continued pumping
fuel onto the plane after it had lost connection. Even the pumps at
a regular gas station have this feature.
I am certain that the bad guys put on bullet proof vests as they took
over the arsenal. It seemed to me that they did not take them off,
yet many of them were shot in the torso area and killed.
How long was the plane in the air? A few hours at most. Yet there
was time enough for a large group of people to get organized and set
up a vigil at the White House, and for CNN to report on the vigil.
No way.
Not a nit, but I loved Dean Stockwell as Al on Quantum Leap, but he
made a terrible SecDef. He had such a soft, squeeky voice in this movie.
Hardly a voice of a leader. I kept waiting for him to contact Ziggy
for help. :-)
Eric Brasure: Just one nit: Harrison Ford had a serious case of mumblemouth when his
character was giving the terrorism speech at the beginning of movie. I
think he was trying to act intimidating, but it just wasn't happening for
him.
Jeff Burns: Whenever we see the conference room doors from the outside there are clearly
bullet holes in the door, but they seem to disappear when we see the doors
from the inside.
8/25/97 Update
Paul Steele of Stafford, VA: Did you notice Hollywood's typical
insistence on giving night vision goggles an autofocus gizmo? When
the Special Forces team is parachuting down to their rooftop target
they each flip down their monocular image intensifier (can't call them
night vision goggles since they weren't binocular). We then hear a
noise reminiscent of a camera autofocus motor and gears working back
and forth a couple of times. At least they didn't overlay any
symbology over the imagery we see from the soldier's point-of-view. (Note from Phil: Paul works for the Army's Night Vision Lab and assures me that night vision goggles don't have auto-focus!)
Also, I disagree with Alexander Shearer's comment about the Mi-24 Hind
helicopter CGI effect. Although I agree that the AF1 crash in the
water was very poor (a model would have been much better), I'm still
not sure that the Hind helicopter was in fact CGI. I am a helicopter
pilot myself and I have seen Hind helicopters up close. When I saw
the one on the movie screen I just assumed that with the breakup of
the USSR, the film company just went out and leased one!
Michel M. Albert, Moncton, NB: I knew the White House was in trouble when I saw the vice-president was being advised by none other than SIMON TARSES, STARFLEET MALE MEDICAL! ;)
9/1/97 Update
Alex Otis: The whole deal about the refueling demands doesn't sound
plausible to me. The terrorist says they will kill a hostage a minute until
they agree to refuel AF1. That's 50 minutes. The plane will most likely be
out of fuel by then, so, what's the point of giving in to the refueling
demand? If the plane crashes, the law of probabilities dictates some will
survive. If they refuel the plane, all the hostages can be killed. But, of
course, the show must go on.
When the fax came in, the beeper function was turned off. I didn't even
see a flashing light. I find this extremely strange for a major governmental
office in a crisis. It could bring vital knowledge for chosing a course of
action.
If you would like to add some comments,
drop me a note at chief@nitcentral.com.
Please put "Air Force One" in the Subject line and include your real
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Copyright 1997 by Phil Farrand. All Rights Reserved.