Gripping, for all the wrong reasons Air Force One is a film that really makes me wonder whether the true intentions of the director are as transparent as they seem.
It is strange enough in itself that a director who is himself not an American would produce a piece of thinly disguised US propaganda (who am I kidding? Not disguised at all! Naked, shaven and equipped with big flashing arrows pointing at it!). Not that Germans are immune to the grandiose nature of the nationalism (excuse me, I mean *patriotism* of course) that inspires many American films, and after all, films that portray German nationalism positively are not that well received, so what is a German director who likes trite militaristic show-offs and personality cults revolving around the local alpha male to do? But if you pay attention to the way the characters and the storyline are presented, it makes you wonder who is the real hero here. Sure, the president saves the day. Sure, the terrorists all die in the end and so does the man they were trying to free. I don't know if that's even a spoiler because most people probably guessed the ending from looking at the way the DVD cover was designed.
But just compare the way James Marshall, the president, is presented and the way the top terrorist, Ivan Korshunov, is presented. Who would you say is the more intelligent man? Who is willing to take more risks for his country? Who follows his morals - however much you may agree or disagree with them - more consequently? The US government in this film is actually very openly hypocritical. First they order the abduction of the president of Kazakhstan, then they are outraged when the same is done to them in return. First the president is willing to sacrifice all the hostages on board of the plane because "ah don negotiate wit terroris'", then he is willing to give in to all demands to save his wife and child - when before he did not care at all about other people's wives, children or husbands being killed.
And the character of the president himself is so stereotypical it hurts. Every one of his actions is predictable. Same goes for his wife ("I don't know what you want! But you won't get it!" Hellooo?). It is very difficult to be on their side, especially when on the other side the top terrorist makes statements that in 2009, after 8 years of Bush junior, countless proxy wars, several more US-backed coups and in the middle of another Iraq war, are probably much more popular than in the 90s. Maybe it's just Gary Oldman stealing the show, but maybe it's a subversive director who is way ahead of his time leading the embarrassing clichées of a genre ad absurdum ("red white and blue, I count on you" - good thing the person who installed the cables was just as much into nationalistic kitsch as you are, Mister President).
And then there's the scene where General Radek is released from prison and all the poor, downtrodden prisoners sing the Internationale from their small, dirty cells. It doesn't get much more epic than that. Way more striking than the long-winded rescue mission at the end of the film.
So I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film but I watched it "the other way round". Watched as it seems to be (and, in all seriousness, probably is) the film is of course, apart from the usual racist and sexist undercurrents that the director probably didn't even notice he catered to, also a piece of embarrassingly shallow kitsch. But at the very least, it gave the bad guys a fair chance to make their point (before getting their asses kicked of course).
(P.S. Drinking game: Drink one sip of beer - nothing stronger - every time a character says "Jesus", "Christ" or "God". After the film, check yourself into a hospital for your alcohol poisoning)