Kurt Russell plays David Grant, a Pentagon analyst who is pressed into service when an Arab splinter group hijacks a 747 heading from London to Washington, ostensibly to force the release of its leader.

Grant deduces that the plane actually carries enough nerve-toxin to wipe out 40 million Eastern Seaboarders. Col. Travis (Steven Seagal) suggests using an experimental aircraft to sneak a commando unit onto the 747.

The commandos board but are left without any means of communicating the progress of the mission. Thus, the president's Crisis Team is debating whether to blow the 406 passengers—including a senator—out of the air as a safety precaution. -- Richard Harrington

By Desson Howe
Washington Post Staff Writer
March 15, 1996

If you're looking for satisfying junk food, "Executive Decision" is exactly the carryout you've been craving. This hijacking suspense drama steals shamelessly from Tom Clancy's kitchen, but it's tautly scripted, loaded with tension and interspersed with great comic relief. You could do worse than to bolt this stuff down.

A collection of Algerian terrorists commandeers a 747 airliner bound for Washington. Their purpose, says leader David Suchet (best known as Hercule Poirot in the "Mystery!" series), is to secure $20 million in gold bullion and get safe passage home.

But intelligence analyst and terrorism expert Kurt Russell figures out their real agenda. Suchet has loaded the plane with an enormous nerve toxin bomb capable of wiping out the eastern seaboard. The maniacal terrorist, who has a holy-war jones, intends to detonate the plane right over Washington.

At the inevitable Pentagon meeting, Steven Seagal (who plays supporting character Lt. Col. Austin Travis) volunteers to lead a few select members of Special Forces on a dangerous search-and-defuse mission.

Seagal and his four-man rescue team—including John Leguizamo and Joe Morton—will pursue the 747 in a highly experimental stealth aircraft, which can attach itself to the passenger plane and provide surreptitious access to the cargo section. Analyst Russell is asked to join the mission, as is Oliver Platt, the stealth-plane's rather jittery designer.

"Executive Decision," created by the "Predator" team (producer Joel Silver, screenwriters John Thomas and Jim Thomas) executes its mission perfectly. You suffer exquisitely as Morton and Platt try to deactivate the bomb while Russell (using all manner of gizmos, from a laptop computer to a bendable electronic periscope) attempts to make secret contact with flight attendant Halle Berry.

The difficulties proliferate, of course. A soldier, vital to the mission, is lost. Another is badly disabled. The bomb is virtually impossible to disarm. And the ever-vigilant Suchet is always moments away from discovering the rescue team.

The mission is a sweaty race against the clock, too, since the government (which loses radio contact with the rescuers almost immediately) intends to blow the passenger plane out of the sky as soon as it enters U.S. air space.

While the rescuers wait for the right moment to storm the plane, they let out their tension with often-amusing retorts.

"Hope there's a good movie on this flight," says Leguizamo as he prepares to board the passenger plane.

"We're doing a simple electronic bypass," says Morton later, as he guides Platt through the disabling of the bomb. "Just ignore the rest of it."

"Just . . . ignore . . . the rest of it?," asks Platt, sweaty and wide-eyed, as he stares at the intimidating booby trap before him.

"Executive Decision" isn't going to go down as the most positive representation of the Islamic world, even though the filmmakers have taken great pains to differentiate extremist Suchet from his followers. ("You are blinded with hatred," complains one terrorist underling at one point.) But this no-nonsense thriller should be appreciated only as nail-biting spectacle. If you're game, it's time to buckle up and enjoy the bumpy ride.

By Richard Harrington
Washington Post Staff Writer
March 15, 1996

This much can be said about "Executive Decision": Anyone wondering whether there's a good flight on this movie can rest assured. Writers Jim and John Thomas and first-time director Stuart Baird have come up with a surprisingly deft variation on the airplane hijack genre, one that relies on subterfuge and suspense rather than explosives and body counts—even though Steven Seagal is in it.

That's because Seagal, portraying Special Forces Lt. Col. Austin Travis, is not the star of the film, and WARNING—IF YOU DON'T WANT A PLOT DETAIL REVEALED, CLOSE YOUR EYES WHILE READING THE REST OF THIS SENTENCE is not even around all that long. The film's star is Kurt Russell, who plays David Grant, a Pentagon analyst and expert in international terrorism who is pressed into service when an Arab splinter group hijacks a 747 heading from London to Washington, ostensibly to force the release of their kidnapped and imprisoned leader.

It's Grant who deduces that the plane is in effect a misguided missile with enough lethal nerve-toxin aboard to wipe out 40 million Eastern Seaboarders should it hit the Nation's Bull's-Eye. Col. Travis suggests using an experimental aircraft designed for transferring bomber crews at high altitudes to sneak up on, and under, the 747 to deliver its own payload—a politically correct commando unit that can disable the bomb and take over the plane before it reaches (gulp!) us.

While the hijacking itself seems suspiciously easy, everything that follows is delightfully complicated as two planes full of macho men become one plane full of macho men. The edgy suspense derives from stealth action, as the commandos try to operate unbeknown to the terrorists, with the help of a single flight attendant (Halle Berry, the only woman with any role to speak of, or to speak).

"Executive Decision" unwinds at a leisurely 130 minutes, thanks to assorted subplots and situation-room dramas. The sky-high transfer is not entirely smooth, and the commandos are left without WARNING—PLOT DETAIL the services of the experienced Col. Travis or RESUME READING any means of communicating with Washington as to the progress, or success, of the mission. So even as the good guys are winging it inside the plane, the president's Crisis Team is debating whether to blow the 406 passengers—including a senator—out of the air as a safety precaution (hence the title).

Did we mention that somebody who's never flown a plane before—except for the little one-passenger job in the opening reel—is going to have to land the 747 by film's end? Clearly, Baird and the Thomas brothers have not avoided all cliches, but they've circumvented enough of them to be forgiven.

As he did with the recent sci-fi thriller "Stargate," Russell manages to carry the action well within the bounds of believability. He's aided by the kind of multicultural fighting unit that was common in '50s war films: the quiet black demolition expert, Cappy (Joe Morton); the Hispanic, Rat (John Leguizamo), and the Asian, Louie (B.D. Wong—last seen, as was Leguizamo, in drag); Cahill (Oliver Platt), the Irish American highbrow scientist reluctant to risk anything until the chips are down; and another European American, Doc (Whip Hubley). As for the Arabs, they're led by the cold, politely intense Nagi Hassan (David Suchet, better known as Hercule Poirot). However, none of these performances will be earning a Best Supporting Actor nomination for next year's Oscars.

Though this is Baird's directing debut, he's been immersed in producer Joel Silver's full-throttle action approach as editor of the "Lethal Weapon" series, "Demolition Man" and "Die Hard 2." With most of the action taking place within the surprisingly spacious underbelly of the 747, Baird manages a bracing brew of close-quarter encounters and even closer calls. "Executive Decision" suffers a bit from its soft landing—especially after a few red-herring approaches—but the flight itself is deliciously turbulent.