When a military operation arrests a communist dictator, the world cheers (well, most of it), and President James Marshall (Ford), shames everyone because he claims the UN waited too long before acting. He declares that America will never sit by and watch as acts of terrorism occur simply because it isn't happening to them, much to the chagrin of several of his cabinet members.
Marshall and his family, wife Grace (Wendy Crewson) and daughter Alice (Liesel Matthews), then board Air Force One to head back to the states (from the summit location in Russia), only to find that a film crew team has been replaced by a terrorist cell led by Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman), a loyalist zealot to the dictator captured during the opening sequence. Their demand is to have General Radek (the dictator) released, otherwise they will slowly kill every hostage on the plane. What they don't realize is that Marshall didn't escape and he is biding his time in the bowels of the jet, slowly formulating a plan and picking off Korshunov's men.
Meanwhile, on the ground, the remaining cabinet members and Vice President Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close), work frantically to deal with this threat while also trying to keep the media in the dark. Bennett frequently butts heads with Defense Secretary Walter Dean (Dean Stockwell, most recently of Battlestar Galactica). While the two have a common goal, one favors military action and starts to doubt whether Marshall is still fit to be president, as well as who exactly is in command, Bennett or Dean.
As far as "lone-fighters up against a plane full of bad-guys" movies go, Air Force One is definitely on the top of my list. In fact, the only real problem I had with this disc, besides the lack of special features, was some sound balancing issues. I don't know if it was my particular setup or what, but the dialogue (or maybe it was the center channel completely) was much lower than the rest of the sounds. Consequently, dramatic scenes with heart-racing music would drown out the discussions, and explosions during the dog fights outside of the plane would be downright deafening.
Like I said before, Air Force One is a good action flick, but it being worth the purchase purely depends on how much you rely on special features to complete the package. If you don't really care about that and just want some solid HD explosions and ass-kickery, then buy it. Otherwise, rent it. Either way, if you haven't seen Air Force One at all, shame on you and at least watch it.
