The 21st Film I have seen in theaters…
Steve Segal and Kurt Russell must sto… oops. I mean, Kurt Russell must stop terrorists from blowing up a plane!
Terrorists have stolen a nerve agent! They have hijacked a 747, with a US Senator onboard, and are threatening to blow it up over the United States. Lt Colonel Travis and Army Intelligence consultant, Dr Grant, must board the plane and stop the terrorists. Things don’t go so well for Travis.
Steven Seagal was one of the big action stars of the period. Everyone assumed that he would be the hero of the film. Surprise! 15 or so minutes in he bites the dust!
Kurt Russell then steps forwards and makes this a watchable film! I’ve always dug KR, he was an excellent action hero for his time. Snake Plisskin wasn’t a Schwarzenegger, he didn’t have to be.
Halle Berry has started to make a name for herself in Hollywood. This was just at the start of her explosion into the mainstream. She was good here.
Oliver Platt, one of my spirit animals, plays Dennis, the engineer. He is there to make the whosie-whatsit do the thing-a-mabob.
John Leguizamo is Captain “Rat” Lopez! I love that name for some reason. He apparently did not like Seagal on this picture. Some tension. Seagal is something of a douche, so it makes sense.
David Suchet, Who famously played Hercule Poirot in the Agatha Christie TV series, plays Hassan, the lead terrorist. This guy is always good.
In the best photo from Executive Decision that I could find, is Andreas Katsulas. Katsulas was one of those epic level actors, elevating everything he did. He is probably best remembered for his portrayal of G’Kar on Babylon 5. He passed in 2006.
This was quite the film. It turned the who action hero thing on its head and left the audience guessing. The hero dies at the start of the movie?! Insane! I’ll never forget seeing this opening night with a friend who practically suckled from the teat of Steven Seagal. He was LIVID that Seagal was killed off so soon. “Who would want to see a Kurt Russell movie??!” Nevermind that I was a big fan of Russell. I thought it was a clever bit of misdirection. It wasn’t the best action film of the 90’s. It wasn’t even the best action movie set on a plane, but it was one of the more interesting ones.
The Skinny from the Fatty 