Now I am not exactly a big Steven Seagal fan, but a rip off is a rip off and it gets me steamed. About 8 years ago, I turned on a movie on TV called, “Executive Decision” with Steven Seagal as the main starring actor. The only other two actors in the film that I had heard of was Kurt Russell and Halle Berry (BEFORE she was an academy award winning actress).
The basic plot of the movie is an American airplane is high-jacked by Arab terrorists who say they will crash the plane unless their leader is released from being held in an American prison . If he isn’t released, the terrorists are going to blow up the plane with it’s 400 + passengers and crash it into the continental United States in an attempt to kill as many Americans as they can.
Since Americans NEVER negotiate with terrorists, they have to come up with a Plan ‘B’ very quickly. In walks Steven Seagal, who is the military expert and Kurt Russell, who is an expert in international politics and the intelligence community. Several “head-honchos” around a table dream up an idea to rescue the people on the plane and neutralize the terrorist threat. They attempt to take a prototype stealth plane, secretly fly it under the belly of the big jet, hook up the two planes with a type of pressurized tube and then have a bunch of soldiers crawl onto the passenger plane and rescue everyone and capture or kill the terrorists. Simple, right? Of course you know that it isn’t going to play out that smoothly. While Steven’s character is crawling from one plane to the other, all manner of chaos ensues and he sacrifices his life in order to get all the other soldiers onto the passenger plane. Steven gets sucked into the atmosphere and it’s “good-bye, Steven”.
I found it most upsetting that Seagal apparently dies less than 15 minutes into the movie. I immediately thought, “He must be coming back later. He’s got top billing. He’s probably grabbed onto the wing of the plane and he’ll burst into the main cabin of the plane and save everybody right at the moment when we viewers think all hope is gone and we have totally forgotten about poor Steven who's hanging onto the plane’s tail at 600 mph, 10,000 feet up in the sky”.
Well, I must warn you that when Steven is whisked away into the clouds, that is the last we see of him for the remaining 2 hours and 10 minutes of the movie. HOWEVER, … after about 5 minutes of pouting and feeling completely cheated, I was so sucked into the story that I forgot all about Steven Seagal. (Sorry, Steve).
I’m not going to tell you anything more about what happens in the film after those first 15 minutes, because I don’t want to wreck even the smallest part of it’s plot line. “Executive Decision” is one of the most compelling, thrilling and interesting movies I have every seen. (and I’ve probably seen thousands of movies so far). At the end of the film when the credits rolled by it was the first time I even thought of Steven Seagal since his unfortunate-unexpected-freak stealth jet accident.
If you want a movie that has Steven Seagal kicking EVERYONE’S butt for a couple of hours, then this is NOT the movie for you! However, if you are seeking a recipe for a truly exceptional story, with intelligent writing, filled with suspense and thrills, peppered liberally with great dialogue and wonderful acting, all melted into a tight and clever story, then this is the movie just right for your emotional and mental taste buds. (CAUTION: This would probably be defined as a ‘guy’ movie, but don’t let that scare you off ladies. A good story is a good story. Case closed!.) Kudos to the creators of the film, “Executive Decision” who not only created 2 1/2 hours of fascinating story-telling, but who also made me think that it’s worth sitting through 90% of crappy films for the mere hope of seeing a good movie like this one. I was left wishing and begging for more. MORE!
If you have some free time and you don’t want to simply vegetate into a summer movie coma, you couldn’t do better than watching the film, “Executive Decision”. As for Steven Seagal leaving the movie and nobody caring or even noticing all I can say is, “Sorry, Charlie”.
Link: EXECUTIVE DECISION: Film Theatrical Trailer
Executive Decision(1996)
133 min - Action | Adventure | Thriller - 15 March 1996 (USA) When terrorists seize control of an airliner, an intelligence analyst accompanies a commando unit for a midair boarding operation.
Director:
Stuart BairdWriters:
Jim Thomas, John ThomasStars:
Kurt Russell, Halle Berry and Steven Seagal
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