Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The_Phantom_Projectionist In 1997, former American NINJA Michael Dudikoff and director Rick Jacobson so thoroughly ripped off the previous year's EXECUTIVE DECISION that it's hard to imagine how they avoided a lawsuit. A decade later, Steven Seagal returned the favor by blatantly remaking Dudikoff's BLACK THUNDER as FLIGHT OF FURY. Whatever the dynamics behind this odd reciprocation between stars, Dudikoff/Jacobson's offering is actually the sincerer form of flattery, for despite its knockoff status, it's a pretty serviceable adventure – a little too light on the action for my taste, but excelling in most other important areas.The story: When a terrorist unit hijacks an airliner and threatens to detonate a devastating chemical weapon over America unless their demands are met, the designer of the weapon (Dudikoff) joins a Special Forces team to board the plane mid-flight and neutralize the threat.I never thought I'd see the day when Michael Dudikoff becomes a cooler guy than Kurt Russell, but it happens in this film: Dudikoff and Russell play virtually the same role in their respective films, and the former's infinitely more active and able take on the part is the one way that COMMAND decisively outshines DECISION. Rick Jacobson's lively direction and maximization of resources helps a lot, making for a movie that's smaller-scaled than its original but no less professional-looking and, arguably, more fun. A great cast that includes Amanda Wyss, Paul Winfield, and Jsu Garcia keeps the plot energized and upbeat, thereby creating a tone that's fairly breezy for an action-thriller.The always-welcome Richard Norton plays the terrorist leader, and in addition to being a fun menace, he helps supplies the movie's action highlights via three hand-to-hand fights with Dudikoff (one of them is even good). Other than that, the adrenaline scenes are limited to a handful of gunfights, including several ill-advised ones on the plane. The film leans disproportionately on the latter aspect of its action-thriller label, and I consider this a bad idea given that it's not nearly as serviceable of a nail-bitter as the movie it's aping. The fun characters help keep viewers involved, but there's nothing here in terms of excitement that you won't find anywhere else.The movie teeters on a higher rating from me. I have a feeling that fans of Dudikoff will consider this one a favorite, but I could have used a bit more substantial action. Nevertheless, I can't speak too strongly against this one, and thus I'll give it an unenthusiastic recommendation: catch it on TV or lift it from the bargain bin.

date1969-697-374378 Spoiler Alert. What's obvious is that this is an Executive Decision rip off. But what this rip off has is the not so professional special forces. As soon as there is a glitch in the plan the characters start fighting among themselves. Apparently they don't know how to adapt, improvise and over come. Lost cabin pressure sequence none of the Emergency Breathing Apparatus deploy. A contradictory (germ) warfare (chemical) called Bromax-360 is released in first class but none of the rest of the craft is affected. Bromax-360 sound more like a sex enhancer for men. Obviously a this is a terrible acted movie. Not worth watching. Thumbs down 5.

Steve Riley I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I watched this turkey of a movie. Surely, if Hollywood handed out awards for blatant plagiarism, this load of horse manure would win hands down. Basically a total rip-off of `Executive Decision' with lashings of `Air Force One' and a pinch of `The Rock' slung in for good measure. How the makers of this dross got away without being sued for every penny they had beats me. Most of the other hacks on this page have outlined the finer plagiaristic details so I won't repeat them again here. But this film gives new meaning to the words `low budget'. The producers obviously had so little money that they couldn't even afford a few extras to serve as terrified passengers. And there were so many plot holes you could fly a real 747 straight through them. Like at the end where the Dudikoff character and the chief baddie are fighting it out. Bag of deadly toxin splits open. Baddies die horrible deaths, twitching and vomiting all over the place. Dudikoff has a syringe full of antidote and injects himself, Nicolas Cage-style. Okay I can just about buy that. But the other people on board - all goodies and a matter of metres away in the next cabin - conveniently remain completely unaffected. And just minutes before this, we were supposed to be buying into the line that a few broken bags of this stuff would wipe out the population of LA? I rest my case. Sexy female terrorist though!!!!

Everum Obviously, someone at the writer's den couldn't think of any more ideas so they decided to steal Executive Decision. It's the same story and same EXACT plot. Plane gets hijacked, there's a bomb, a team goes in by via plane hook-up, some made it, gotta disarm bomb, and whee!! All the heroes make it. They even copied the salute in the end when the hero and soldiers saluted. Whoo, boy. Someone ought to smack the writers around for copying.