The best thriller movies to me are ones where you invest in in the characters and drama to so you're devoted to the suspense that happens throughout. The first time I saw Executive Decision I thought where is the action? This isn't really an action movie, it's more of a suspense thriller in the Hitchcockian vein where one thing happens after another than makes you more anxious and frustrated until you get rewarded at the end. The movie takes a while to get going as the first act sets up the highjacking and is about the special forces team getting on the plane. Then the second act is about them planning to take plane, and ante is up because they have a time constraint, they have to save the people in the plane, and the people below from the nerve agent in the plane. The film has so many threats to the main characters and their objective that it never gives you a moment to rest. As an audience you will feel more excitement toward the end when the action starts because of the build up to it. It's like going up a roller coaster and waiting for the drop. The cast is one of the best of 90s action movies. I'd argue this movie taking the Die-Hard-Scenario tropes and turning them into a suspense movie rather than an action movie is something more movies should do. People may call it imperialistic and stereotypical because of it's depiction of Islamic Extremism, however five years after this 9/11 happened and it gives the movie a very authentic quality in retrospect.
The movie starts with Lieutenant Colonel Austin Travis (Steven Seagal) and his special forces team unsuccessfully trying to recover a nerve gas agent called DZ-5. In this sequence you get some spectacular Seagal moments such as stabbing people in the throat. I love how in sync the team looks. I love the MP5-Navy submachine guns they have. There are plenty of gunshot blood squibs which I love in these movies. We find out later than David Grant (Kurt Russell) is responsible for sending Travis and his team on the mission in which they lose one of their team members. The film then transitions to David Grant learning to fly a small plane in Washington D.C. Meanwhile Nagi Hassan (David Suchet) leader of the associates of imprisoned terrorist El Sayed-Jaffa (Andreas Katsulas). This sequence is interesting in that the other men have hidden guns aboard the plane and Hassan assembles a Glock out of parts he had hidden. He also has a fun disguise with facial hair and a wig. In the meantime they kill one flight attendant played by 80s action movie staple Mary Ellen Trainor.
Grant and Travis both go to a military meeting. Grant in similar role as Alec Baldwin's Jack Ryan in In the Hunt for Red October is invited into the crisis room as he is an expert on Hassan. Grant believes that Hassan has hidden the nerve gas on the plane and plans to land the plane in Washington to detonate the nerve gas. As in other action movies Grant gives a sample of how deadly the nerve gas is by taking a water drop and saying that could kill everyone in the room. Instead of having the plane shot down Travis talks about an experimental way to board a stealth bomber and use it board the plane while in mid flight. For this they consult DARPA agent Dennis Cahill played by Oliver Platt. In the meantime there is some great tension between flight attendant Jean (Halle Berry) and Hassan. She hides the flight roster from him so a U.S. Marshall (Richard Riehle) is safe. That part of the story is similar to Bonnie Bedelia and Alan Rickman in Die Hard. Just like Die Hard there is also another subplot about a Senator (J.T. Walsh) who wants to negotiate the hostages so he can get more favor with public opinion as he is running for President.
While Travis' team and Grant are able to board the plane, Travis is killed while trying to board to make sure the plane doesn't blow up. One of Travis' men, Cappy (Joe Morton) suffers a vertebrae injury, paralyzing him. The second half of the film consists of Grant, Cahill, and Travis' team, soldiers played by B.D. Wong, John Leguizamo, and Whip Hubley. The film attempts to deny you any level of comfortability, as the stakes are frequently increased. They can't take the plane because they don't know how many terrorists there are and where. They have to find the nerve gas. There is a bomb on board that will go if Hassan's plan goes wrong. They eventually find out there is a sleeper agent on the plane waiting to detonate said bomb. They have a limited number of hours before the plane reaches U.S. airspace and is given the go ahead to be shot down. All of these conflicts come to a head and have an exciting and cathartic resolution. Along the way Jerry Goldsmith's great score adds to the tension and suspense.
I really like how in this action movie the team of experts doesn't all get killed and is actually what saves the day. While this diverts from the one or two man army formula that normal Die Hard scenario action movies have it still has the same feel and intensity that rivals some of the greatest thrillers ever. Look for some other great cast members like Charles Hallahan playing the general in the crisis room. When the action finally hits at the end it is great. Plenty of awesome gunshot blood squibs as these movies always have. Also the plane sets look so authentic. It is interesting to see Kurt Russell play a role like this. He never usually plays alpha male tough guys but in this he plays something to the opposite of what is usual for him. There is a sense of vulnerability and seriousness to him that he doesn't always have while retaining his usual confident charm. Steven Seagal in limited time seems quite authentic as a special forces leader. Halle Berry is charming and likable and it's no surprise she went on to become a star. Leguizamo is funny and exudes a certain toughness like always. David Suchet is one of the better Alan Rickman clones giving a mysterious and at times great angry acting performance.
Rating: 10/10
Trivia: Apparently Kurt Russell got so sick of Leguizamo's frequent improv of his lines that they got into a physical altercation. The line "hope the smell doesn't give us away," started the fight.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY4EfSHyIyA
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