The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
FILM OF THE WEEK
Monday, Film4, 9pm
Air Force One –
Harrison Ford for president? That’s an alternate reality we can all get behind, which partly explains why this taut thriller became such a box office smash back in 1997. The suspenseful premise is so fiendishly simple and effective, Hitchcock would doubtless approve: a gang of terrorists hijack the President’s private aircraft, leaving him with no choice but to thwart their dastardly plot and rescue everyone on board. Total hokum, of course, but that’s the point. Everyone involved is fully aware of the sort of film they’re making, and the results are irresistible. It’s a perfectly realised vehicle for Ford and his similarly charismatic co-star Gary Oldman, who positively revels in the role of arch antagonist.