“Air Force One” takes a lot of inspiration from “Die Hard”, “Passenger 57” and a few other films but it includes a clever twist by making the actual target the hero of the film. It’s not as director Wolfgang Petersen’s other films “The NeverEnding Story” or his other Presidential thriller “In The Line of Fire”.

After the ruthless dictator of Kazakhstan is captured, President James Marsh (Harrison Ford “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Star Wars”) of America says he and his country will no longer have any tolerance with cruel dictators and will not negotiate but when he boards his plane a group of terrorists take control and demand the release of the very man that has just been incarcerated. The President is an ex-soldier and works from hiding to defeat them and save the lives of everybody on-board including his wife and daughter.

Harrison Ford is a good choice as the President as he can portray the thinker as well as the kind of guy that can do a bit of fighting, two things that are key here. I really like Gary Oldman (“Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, “Batman Begins”) as the main terrorist. I also like Glenn Close (“Fatal Attraction”) as the Vice President. The President’s family aren’t so great in it.

The action is good, the suspense is there throughout the duration of the film and the performances are good but the big downside to the film is that at times it seems like just an excuse to showcase some special effects and that is definitely a little disappointing and it hurts the smartness of the other aspects of the picture. If you loved the first “Die Hard” like I did and you thought “In The Line of Fire” was pretty darn good too then this film is worth the watch but despite the large amount of explosions and gunfire it won’t impress you the same way those two films did.