Executive Decision

An under-rated; well made 90's action flick with a great cast.

It's got all the action movie clichés you can think of, protagonist that got in the eye of storm by accident, bomb defusing, Morse codes, antagonist that always gets an extra life, action clichés you name it you got it. its got ideas pulled from everywhere but it was detail filled enough that the actual result was pretty good to the eye.
If I'm to see an action movie, this is the kind i want to see.

Just rewatched for the Action Boyz podcast and boy does it hold up. Kurt Russell is the best! Seagal....is not!

Unparalleled 90's action with a great cast!

A 1996 movie with good effects!

I love the team's coordination, their teamwork. The leadership and the on the spot decisions are reasonable. Worth to watch knowing that it's a movie made in year 1996.

One of those movies that you can watch again and again. Good action movie that has everything you'd expect from a 90's action flick.

Pretty good.Action and suspense well made from the 1990 's.Second watch as good as the first one

One of the rare better Stephen Seagal movies. The presence of Kurt Russell certainly helps to make it less Seagal which helps the movie a lot. Simple but good entertainment.

A mid-flight stop, with a good dose of adrenaline.

Executive Decision

It took me a while to realize that I had seen this as a boy, and though much more discerning now, and well aware that this type of film is America imperialist propaganda directly sanctioned by the Pentagon, I have to admit that it's a damned satisfying bit of action suspense with fun character moments played out by capable and charismatic actors at the top of their game (minus Segal, haha!) Speaking of Segal, if you haven't seen this before, don't let the opening scene with the mile-a-minute SEAL team murder spree put you off-- it's much messier than the rest of the film, and it's that way to provide contrast and context of a troubled backstory.


That said, this is not the kind of film to be taken as anything more than light, pulse-pumping, crowd pleasing entertainment, and that's exactly the mood I was in to see it. I knew it was going to be an amusing juxtaposition of characters for a "save America with a tactical longshot operation" when looking at the top billing of Segal, Russell, and Platt. The first tells you it's going to be schlocky, the second tells you it's got a great leading man, and the third tells you it's not going to take itself too seriously, and that the nerdy anchor will be played just as well as the lead.

Joe Morton actually ends up taking over duties as the team commander, and he and Platt make a great pair of "cool and competent" beside "scared but likeable civvy". David Suchet delivers a great turn as the charismatic and menacing antagonist, and plays the role with as much dignity and presence as possible given the GI Joe script. He's no Hugo Drax (from the film, not the book), but that's not Suche's fault-- Hassan _only_ wanted to **kill** several million people --whereas Drax puts most supervilliains to shame with his godlike aspirations.

Halle Berry is capable and really telegraphs the tension with her beautiful, almost 1980s anime facial features (and haircut), and furtive body language. There's just enough chemistry between her and Russell that it works. It's not Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves in _Speed_, but there's not as much male/female lead time in this either.

It's a pity Andreas Katsulas had to do a fake accent and played such a small role in this, because otherwise he's an absolute joy to watch. Here he plays almost as much a role as Kurt Russell's test plane in his character introduction.

The technical aspects of the script all seemed competent enough, though I am admittedly quite ignorant regarding the finer points of avionics, and had nothing more to guess than what the script offered regarding "flaps!" and "landing gear!" It's always gratifying when the script allows you to guess something and you get it right just ahead of the characters. Likewise, there were similar moments with the computer elements and the altimeter in [spoiler] the bomb[/spoiler] scene, and that and the gun stuff all seemed competently written.

There were the predictable bits of everything happening a little too conveniently, with certain characters surviving, no collateral civilian damage caused by the hero, and the simplistic (and insidious) "good guy Americans versus maniacle terrorist" plot. I was kind of rooting for Hassan to take out everyone on the Eastern Seaboard, because I gotta respect a man with a real vision for such a grandiose plan, but gosh, Kurt Russell is just such a charasmatic and relatable, chisel-jawed, White American protagonist, and you just gotta see if he's gonna take out the cute, spunky little brown-sugar flight attendant that's idealistically about ten years his junior.

==In Closing...==

I view films like this as a cultural relic, as if I'm discovering something from a bygone era, despite the fact that it's been barely a generation since it came out; it makes it easier to indulge in the fun while adding a layer of enjoyment that accompanies escapist fiction, which this certainly is. After all, it was one of the late films of this type before 9/11 changed the paradigm in American cinema and media dealing with this subject matter, where henceforth, everything had to be earnest and serious, but, of course, without actually being any more honest or realistic.