Executive Decision

Watch: Executive Decision

3/15/19962h 12m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ Five miles above the earth, an elite team of six men must make an air to air transfer, in order to save 400 lives on board a 747...and 40 million below. ~

Overview:

Terrorists hijack a 747 inbound to Washington D.C., demanding the release of their imprisoned leader. Intelligence expert David Grant (Kurt Russell) suspects another reason and he is soon the reluctant member of a special assault team that is assigned to intercept the plane and hijackers.

Director:

Stuart Baird

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$55,000,000.00

Revenue:

$121,969,216.00

Key words:

rescue
airplane
panic
bomb
ransom
hostage
hijacking
terror cell
special unit
deception
flashback
survival
covert operation
disaster
shootout
terrorism
explosion
surveillance
night vision goggles
flight attendant
intelligence agent
hand to hand combat
nerve gas

Cast

Kurt Russell

~ as ~

David Grant

Steven Seagal

~ as ~

Lt. Colonel Austin Travis

Halle Berry

~ as ~

Jean

John Leguizamo

~ as ~

Rat

Oliver Platt

~ as ~

Cahill

Joe Morton

~ as ~

Cappy

David Suchet

~ as ~

Nagi Hassan

BD Wong

~ as ~

Louie

Len Cariou

~ as ~

Secretary of Defense Charles White

Whip Hubley

~ as ~

Baker

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

Wuchak
Written 2 year(s) ago
7
Suspense at 33,000 feet with Kurt Russell

An intelligence analyst (Russell) inadvertently joins a special forces operation to save a Boeing 747-200 hijacked by terrorists before it is used to attack DC. Steven Seagal plays the mission commander, Halle Berry a flight attendant and Oliver Platt an aeronautics engineers, amongst other notables.

“Executive Decision” (1996) is an airliner-in-trouble flick from the angle of “Under Siege” (1992) directed by the editor of “Die Hard 2” (1990). I bring up the latter because this one’s very similar except that it takes place in the air rather than an airport.

I didn’t expect to like it because it’s basically “Die Hard” on a plane and I didn’t think a worthwhile movie could be made with such a cramped setting, but work it does. Sure, a lot of the runtime involves rescuers strategizing in the bowels of the airbus using hi-tech equipment, like hidden cameras, but the creators respect the intelligence of the viewer and there are several innovative bits along with great suspense.

It was obviously prescient of 9/11, filmed six years prior to that infamous attack.

The movie runs 2 hours, 13 minutes, and was shot in SoCal at Norton Air Force Base, San Bernardino, but also Chino Airport, Mojave Desert (crash scene), Sierra Madre (Chechen Mafia House). The wedding kidnapping sequence was shot in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

GRADE: B