Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Executive Decision (1995)
Director: Stuart Baird
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This 'bomb on a plane' action-thriller takes off smoothly, hits some terrorist turbulence at cruising altitude, and doesn't come down until the palm-sweating finale. Koran-quoting Arab Nagi Hassan (Suchet) and his team take over a 747 bound for Washington, DC, and threaten to kill all on board if their imprisoned leader isn't freed. But intelligence analyst David Grant (Russell) senses that Hassan has a more heinous plan: to land the plane, release its (supposed) payloadof lethal nerve toxin, and wipe out the Eastern seaboard. So, while on the ground the military men and politicians decide whether to down the plane and cut their losses, an anti-terrorist unit led by Lt Col Austin Travis (Seagal) uses a prototype 'sleeve' to board the aircraft in midair. Providing high-altitude intelligence back-up are pencil-pusher Grant and the sleeve's designer Cahill (Platt), both way out of their depth. As befits an editor-turned-director, Baird has a strong sense of pace and suspense, but even his cross-cutting skills are no match for a plot that fragments the action and blurs the narrative focus. Even so, the escalating tension largely compensates for the lack of character involvement, and the climax will have you reaching for your safety belt.Author: NF
Cast & crew
Director: Stuart Baird
Producer: Joel Silver, Jim Thomas, John Thomas
Cast: Steven Seagal, David Suchet, Kurt Russell, Oliver Platt, John Leguizano, Halle Berry, Joe Morton, JT Walsh, Marla Maples Trump full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 132 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now