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Executive Decision (1996)
10 Plays1 hour ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris make an Executive Decision to talk about the 90s action thriller as it turns 30, and with both Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and The Madison bringing us a bunch of Kurt Russell on streaming.
Kurt stars as Dr. David Grant, an intelligence consultant to the US government who is called in when a plane flying from Athens to Washington D.C. is hijacked, Believing there is a deadly nerve agent on-board and that the terrorist leader Hassan (David Suchet) is most likely planning on using the plane as a massive bomb to spread the agent, a risky mid-air infiltration is launched. Grant joins a special forces team, led by Col. Austin Travis (Steven Seagal), to use an experimental stealth plane called the Remora to get on board, defuse the bomb, and take out the terrorists. Zach and Chris talk about how shocking it was to see Seagal die shortly into the movie, the montage that feels like the Previously On... of a TV show, how insanely overcomplicated the terrorists' bomb is, how the movie feels extremely Tom Clancy, and more.
You can rent or buy Executive Decision on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home. Next week, we're celebrating St. Patrick's Day with the 1993 horror comedy classic Leprechaun, which is getting a new 4K release from Lionsgate Limited.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, let us know your movie suggestions for us to discuss.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction and Focus on 'Executive Decision' 30th Anniversary
00:00:19
Zach Sheets
Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast podcast for the week of March 9th, 2026. I'm your host, Zach.
00:00:26
Chris Prime
And I'm your co-host, Chris.
00:00:27
Zach Sheets
And this week were we're catching a flight with Executive Decision because it's celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Kurt Russell's 90s Career Highlights
00:00:32
Zach Sheets
came out on March 15th, 1996. And also it's kind of like a Kurt Russell documentary.
00:00:39
Zach Sheets
Palooza going on now. We got, he's been in Monarch for last couple weeks, as that came back couple weeks ago. And also, if you're hearing this when this episode goes up, the new Taylor Sheridan show, The Madison, is debuting, which he's also in.
00:00:52
Zach Sheets
So, what tons Kurt Russell going on like right now, and also like way in back in the 90s, obviously like tons of Kurt Russell happening.
Character Analysis: David Grant vs. Snake Plissken
00:01:00
Zach Sheets
He was in probably at least like two movies a year for a while there.
00:01:04
Zach Sheets
And actually, 1996, he was in Executive Decision and Escape from l LA. It's like the two like like kind of like polar opposite movies.
00:01:14
Chris Prime
Well, it's it's like he wasn't hurting for publicity where he needed to be Snake Plissken again. I think it was just like this convenient timing that. For whatever reason, they like rushed out that like let's make like Snake Plissken again, like a big thing.
00:01:32
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:01:33
Chris Prime
Like it wasn't even like an anniversary, was it?
00:01:36
Zach Sheets
Well, the original was
00:01:40
Zach Sheets
like 81. And then, so I guess it was the, at the time, it was the 25th anniversary the first one. Or 15th. 15th.
00:01:50
Chris Prime
15th, man. You added
00:01:51
Zach Sheets
fifteenth
Unconventional 90s Action Heroes
00:01:51
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:01:51
Chris Prime
way too much.
00:01:55
Zach Sheets
but Yeah, it's funny to think, like, the character-wise, like, you know, David Grant from Executive Decision is, like, the opposite opposite of
00:02:04
Chris Prime
Yeah, they're like, oh, Kurt, can you play a nerd? He's like, I guess.
00:02:09
Zach Sheets
on these glasses. That'll make people, like, believe you're a nerd.
00:02:14
Chris Prime
See, this is also in that era where action heroes are coming in slightly different shapes and sizes now. But and then they were turning like, I guess, like at conventional action heroes into like looks like not an action
Kurt Russell's Versatile Roles
00:02:32
Chris Prime
hero. Because like Kurt Russell. So like, I think this is a year before Soldier, you said.
00:02:41
Zach Sheets
uh, two couple years before so so soldiers, 98, he was coming off stargate. That was like the last movie he did before executive decision came out. And then, uh,
00:02:51
Chris Prime
i'm a So like as a fan of Kurt Russell, it's like he just changes slightly the like hero. you know he stills got He has that like hero look and tone. And then having him play the like i'm like I don't look good with a gun nerd. And it's like, what? you know like This movie just tries to dress him down.
00:03:13
Chris Prime
And it tries in like ridiculous ways.
00:03:17
Zach Sheets
he's
Plot Overview of 'Executive Decision'
00:03:17
Zach Sheets
He's very similar to, like, Nicolas Cage in The Rock, where he's, like, the expert, but, he like they had like, he doesn't want to be sent on the mission, but he, like, gets dragged into it, and he has kind of become, like, an actual, like, an action hero.
00:03:30
Chris Prime
Yeah. I'm just the Joe Schmo.
00:03:34
Zach Sheets
The, like, think tank intelligence gatherer. Because he's he's not like a government he's a government agent. like his he like His group like runs independently and they just they gather intelligence and like bring it to the government.
00:03:49
Zach Sheets
Like, he's
00:03:50
Chris Prime
Yeah, it seems like they're just like fact finding that they're the like, like research to team is honestly what it is.
00:04:00
Chris Prime
Just say research team. mean I don't know why they're trying to make it more crazier than it is.
00:04:05
Zach Sheets
And he's a doctor of something. we we don't really know know what his doctorate's in, but he's Dr. David Grant.
00:04:11
Chris Prime
Well, he's a doctor of...
Production Challenges and Director's Background
00:04:13
Zach Sheets
Intelligence.
00:04:13
Chris Prime
not Well, yeah, it's like...
00:04:17
Chris Prime
That's the thing. It's like they definitely thought about Andrew Ryan.
00:04:21
Zach Sheets
Jack Ryan.
00:04:22
Chris Prime
Jack Ryan. And then they went, alright, well, Jack Ryan's like a doctorate in, I think, like,
00:04:27
Zach Sheets
Finance, I think, because he's like a financial analyst.
00:04:32
Chris Prime
something. I forgot what it was. it It doesn't really matter later on, but like he's a doctorate because he's really like dedicated and and diligent to the small details.
00:04:43
Chris Prime
And then they definitely made the same character and then went, oh, we made him a doctor because you let's make him a bigger nerd. you knowm like It just added to the fact that this is a doctor in a tuxedo for like most of the movie.
00:04:57
Zach Sheets
Yeah, which is it's kind of a fun element that he's like got dragged away from this like big gala stuck in his tuxedo the entire time.
00:05:06
Chris Prime
And they they kind of made him so that like he's charming, but he doesn't know how to talk to women. Or maybe he does. We don't know. There's such a small snippet of that they're trying to include that from a Jack Ryan thing.
00:05:18
Zach Sheets
I mean, it seems like he was like, if he didn't get get it pulled to the Pentagon, he probably would have like, he was doing pretty well though, that woman at the gala. Cause she's like, she's like's like, you like hockey? And he's like, she's like, yeah, I do.
00:05:28
Chris Prime
and I hockey with a guy like you.
00:05:30
Chris Prime
Yeah, that
Critique of Film's Coherence and Plot Setup
00:05:31
Chris Prime
that's also like... If they kind of showed him being like kind of befuddled and he doesn't know how to talk to people. And then like he's really good at analyzing. He's really good at organizing like the the data and the communication and he can speak like, you know, five languages.
00:05:48
Chris Prime
But he's really not good at like the human heart to heart communication. That would have been interesting. but He doesn't know how to the team because they're like macho guys. He doesn't know how like women because like they intimidate him.
00:06:00
Chris Prime
But for whatever reason in this like mission, he becomes like something different. But it doesn't seem like so. Like for that. If anything, he probably has way more cool stories to tell.
00:06:13
Zach Sheets
hu like yeah and He's like trying to get like his pilot's license and he's he's like on the verge of being ready to like fly like solo.
00:06:21
Chris Prime
Yeah, but going from like a single engine plane to like a 747, or not even bigger now, i mean it's like a 373, like something crazy huge.
00:06:27
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:06:32
Zach Sheets
Well, I think, yeah, the play in this movie is a 747.
00:06:35
Chris Prime
Is it?
00:06:36
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:06:37
Chris Prime
thought 747s are only in one tier, but for this is like this had a galley.
00:06:43
Zach Sheets
I think, didn't it have, like, upper like an upper level and a lower level?
00:06:46
Chris Prime
Yeah, I'm not sure that's considered a 747, but it's like another type of plane.
00:06:51
Zach Sheets
I mean, so it says it's 747-200, so maybe that's,
Hijacking Movies Trend in the 90s
00:06:54
Zach Sheets
like, a slightly bigger, like, model of...
00:06:55
Chris Prime
okay. Of 747.
00:06:58
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:06:59
Chris Prime
Which I think at that point, it should be a different number. Like, don't add 747, 200. Like, that just seems like a You I mean?
00:07:06
Zach Sheets
big Yeah, 757. Just keep adding a middle number and it'll get bigger.
00:07:11
Chris Prime
That's like when guns get like another like addition, and you're like, this might well be called a different gun.
00:07:15
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:07:17
Chris Prime
When a plane gets that many extensions, you just can't add, like, a number to, like, make it sound different. It should have you should be in the 90s. Cars. Cars got, like, limited edition names, and it was just called, like, you know, the Turbo or, like, the Max.
00:07:32
Zach Sheets
Yeah,
00:07:32
Chris Prime
And this is the error where vehicles got dumb names like that.
00:07:36
Zach Sheets
yeah like LX, SX. like
00:07:40
Chris Prime
Or, What's that Jeep that's like named after a tiger or something?
00:07:47
Chris Prime
I'll look it up later, but it's like something dumb where it's like, okay, so it's it's like one extra attachment on a four by four and they called it something like a Panther and you're like, oh, I guess.
00:07:48
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:07:56
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:07:58
Chris Prime
don't know. I missed that error. And this was a movie where like, if you want to get people on board for your crazy, like, I don't know, tour of machinery, have it be cool.
00:08:12
Chris Prime
Because this is also the years where like hijacking movies were popular.
00:08:19
Zach Sheets
Yes. This was like a... It was a very popular trend in action movies to have like do like like a plane hijacking. Because there was you know Con Air, there was Passenger 57, there was Air Force One, there was Turbulence.
00:08:36
Zach Sheets
Although, was Turbulence a hijacking or was that just like a disaster? Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:40
Chris Prime
No, it was
Stuart Baird's Directorial Work
00:08:41
Chris Prime
a hijacking. A serial killer like took over the cockpit.
00:08:44
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:08:47
Zach Sheets
And this one, I would say, like, is probably, like, middle middle tier of, like, the 90s, like, airplane movies. think we were talking about it before. Like, it's a little too long. Like, the main thing is that it's a little too long.
00:09:03
Zach Sheets
like it's in Like, the middle is a little, like, floppy. Like, definitely trimmed a little bit of the middle. It had to be, like, a little more, like, a little more like streamlined.
00:09:14
Chris Prime
Yeah, I think this isn't the time where they want to be like a thinking man's action movie. But if you build this movie a certain way, like the certain audience was not ready for like a slow burn dramatic movie. They want it, especially when Seagal was involved initially, you know, like so you're like, oh, Seagal never has a tactical moment besides like I'm going to get in that room and just do what I need to do.
00:09:44
Chris Prime
So...
00:09:44
Zach Sheets
I wonder if wonder if part of it was like, because it was the director's first movie.
Steven Seagal's Role and Career Decline
00:09:48
Zach Sheets
So I wonder if he'd be just like, well, I gotta, like, he just wasn't like, had to handle on like the editing yet or maybe.
00:09:55
Chris Prime
Maybe.
00:09:55
Zach Sheets
although you he he only did like three movies though. So it's like he did Stuart Baird. He did this executive decision. He did us marshals and he did star Trek nemesis. Those were his three movies. Yeah.
00:10:07
Chris Prime
You know, US Marshals isn't so bad.
00:10:10
Zach Sheets
It's funny because he he was an editor. like like That was like his thing before Executive Cigure. He was like an editor for like a bunch of movies. so he i mean He was in that world. I guess maybe he just didn't want himself.
00:10:22
Chris Prime
They just ran out of time.
00:10:24
Zach Sheets
All of this is good.
00:10:26
Chris Prime
Every shot is necessary.
00:10:29
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:10:31
Zach Sheets
I need like a second, a third shot of like, or scene of like the guys lining up ready to attack and then don't they don't.
00:10:37
Zach Sheets
But anyway, before, before like, like, like the hijack and everything, and before like Kermos even shows up, we do, we do, we do get like, uh, Steven Seagal leading like the special forces team on like a raid. It's like a, it's like the Chechen mafia in Italy.
00:10:57
Zach Sheets
Because they think they have nerve gas. That was a big thing in action movies. Some sort of gas.
00:11:04
Chris Prime
Yeah. Just because, like, it's the step below.
00:11:09
Zach Sheets
dukekes
00:11:09
Chris Prime
the step above muster gas, but then it's, yeah, it's the step below nukes. So it's something where not a lot of people will get affected, but, like, the people within a certain vicinity are screwed.
Significance of the Opening Raid Scene
00:11:23
Zach Sheets
But yeah, there's there's a big raid on this like safe house, but then all all the DZ-5, which the nerve gas, is gone. And then it cuts like three months later.
00:11:35
Chris Prime
wait, that was three months. I totally zoned out at that point. If it's like the skip, because this movie also has problem where the movie does a lot of showing you in text.
00:11:47
Zach Sheets
i was yeah I was just going to talk about that. Yeah, like like the the text is out of control this movie.
00:11:48
Chris Prime
Okay.
00:11:51
Chris Prime
The opening scene has so much like sprawling text, like typing text. dooodoooooo did didoo did do I'm like, what? What? Like it's,
00:12:00
Zach Sheets
Well, they're trying to make it look like a tactical like yeah like a readout. of like It's like mission status. Ago. Location. Italy. Objective.
00:12:10
Chris Prime
I mean, yeah, I mean, there's there's some. OK, so it's even weirder to to know that the director has been an editor before. Like he came from that world and.
Dissection of the Terrorist Plot
00:12:23
Chris Prime
it As if they filmed this one, how do we explain all this? He went, oh, crap. Like, I can't add in another scene. and There's no more budget. So I guess we'll just add in tactical readout because it's a tactical movie.
00:12:36
Zach Sheets
Well, if if it if it didn't do a noise every time, it wouldn't probably would have been less noticeable. but it's it's just like Because there's always like the like the digital like, do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Like whenever a text comes up.
00:12:45
Chris Prime
Yeah, yeah. So that... Okay, it if you're gonna go for that option, it is better to do the on-screen text prompting than a black screen with text just explaining, like, I don't know, like, the Middle East to us, you know?
00:13:03
Zach Sheets
Okay.
00:13:03
Chris Prime
It's like, is this your first movie you've seen with people from... that speak Arabic or Farsi? Like, this is what they want.
00:13:09
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:13:13
Chris Prime
And honestly, the first part of the movie does not really fit with the last part. There's so much chunks of like other plot detail that go nowhere for the last part.
00:13:26
Zach Sheets
Oh, the thing that jumped out to me, what we were watching it at this time, was that like the insane montage of like what happened to like the terrorist leader. like
00:13:35
Chris Prime
Oh, you mean like the previous movie that we never seen?
00:13:36
Zach Sheets
Yes! Yes! like joff it's like It's like a previous c executive decision like it's like a tv show that we never like it's like the previous season of the show that we never saw
00:13:46
Chris Prime
See, that's what tells me that they were filming and then they just ran out of bun budget and then they just couldn't kind of fit it in because it's not necessary for everything else that happens. It's not like Steven Seagal was at that wedding.
00:13:59
Zach Sheets
no
00:14:00
Chris Prime
It's not like the DC gas was like, you know, someone was making it right there during some someone else's wedding who we we never don't know who the bride was. What was that about?
00:14:10
Zach Sheets
i think it's's think it's Jaffa's daughter. So that's why he was like out in the open because he was attending his daughter's wedding. But then he got
David Suchet's Villain Role
00:14:17
Zach Sheets
kidnapped by his own or like the guy's loyal to Hassan, I guess.
00:14:23
Zach Sheets
That's like
00:14:23
Chris Prime
No, Hassan...
00:14:24
Chris Prime
No, no, Hassan...
00:14:26
Zach Sheets
That's what Kurt Russell guy's theory is. like like he think think He thinks Hassan planned that whole kidnapping. But then you find out later that, like no, I think he actually did get kidnapped by like like the U.S. government. Because he's like being held captive.
00:14:42
Zach Sheets
And part of this plan is to get him released.
00:14:46
Chris Prime
release. Right. So like, it doesn't make sense that Hassan was kidnapped, kidnap his own guy that he then would own release his own person. Like there's no confusion for them, but it's all the confusion for us because we don't know what the hell the previous scene really was.
00:15:04
Zach Sheets
Because all those scenes are just like, it's just guys shooting each other, a guy with a rocket launcher blowing up a car. You have no context for anything going on. You're just like, what? What's happening?
00:15:15
Chris Prime
And then And then I don't know where he went.
00:15:18
Zach Sheets
There's like a, there's a news report that Kurt Russell is watching where they say that he had turned over to the U.S. government. they They put him on like like a U.S. ship. So that's where he's back being held.
00:15:32
Zach Sheets
But then a guy goes and blows up a Marriott in London.
00:15:36
Chris Prime
Yeah, that's like another like, what's this about scene?
00:15:41
Zach Sheets
like that's like separate it's like I guess that's to like prove that they're serious, but then but then like that's like before the hijacking. And that's part of like their message, like, you saw what we did in London, now we now we've hijacked a plane.
00:15:55
Zach Sheets
Release our leader.
00:15:58
Zach Sheets
Oh, these but think it's probably worth mentioning too that the so the the head of the terrorist, Hassan, is played by David Suchet, which I think we were talking earlier, Chris. is like He's been Hercule Poirot for like decades.
Action Sequences and Plot Alignment
00:16:09
Chris Prime
Yep. And I mean, he he was like still on the pro TV show and took a break to go film this.
00:16:17
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:16:18
Chris Prime
So I think that's hilarious that like He must have done so well to show that Joe Silver was just like, hell yeah, I want him to be in this.
00:16:27
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:16:30
Zach Sheets
he did He did learn Arabic for his roles. That occurred to him.
00:16:33
Chris Prime
He committed. He's a committed actor.
00:16:34
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:16:35
Chris Prime
Like a classic thespian.
00:16:37
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:16:39
Zach Sheets
Yeah, and he yeah he's he's a like a salad like you know action movie be bad guy.
Critique of Airplane Security Logic
00:16:44
Chris Prime
yeah He's like, he's got such menacing eyes.
00:16:49
Zach Sheets
And, yeah, so it's like this whole plan that goes in goes in motion. i don't know how they got some of their guns on the plane, because, like, one of them's in, like, a, uh, like, the serving, like, food thing the in the galley. There's just, like, like there's like an AK-47 just, like, in, like, a, like, stowed away, like, so somebody put that in ahead of time. Yeah.
00:17:11
Chris Prime
I mean, that's the movie Magic.
00:17:14
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:17:15
Chris Prime
It's also the 90s, so you could just, like, brought that in in, like, your shoes back in the time.
00:17:23
Zach Sheets
i think i thought well think I think one of them is like they they had like hit stuff in like a flashlight or something and they they unscrew that and like it's had like clips in it or something and they had then then they have their guns with them.
00:17:32
Chris Prime
Oh, yeah, yeah, I do remember that. I mean... it from the movie, it's not like we're like, oh man, I wonder how they do it. They just do.
00:17:41
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:17:42
Chris Prime
You know, it's what it's not just like a mystery to us where, for all we know, the the plane can be made out of weapons. And, i mean, not worried about the gun part. It was like, how do they get the bomb in?
00:17:55
Zach Sheets
Yeah, because that was like, it like they but they had to check that as like, a because it was like a cargo hold. It was like whatever, they had to make it look like they were shipping something. But it's just like, it's a giant like plastic briefcase.
00:18:08
Zach Sheets
they didn't they didn't I'm sure they still had x-rays back in the 90s. They didn't scan that and be like, oh, what's this weird like computer like device in this briefcase? Yeah.
00:18:18
Chris Prime
Yeah, like that was super suspicious because that's why a lot of like terrorist stuff that happened doesn't really do a check in luggage. And also I like how the terrorists do not even check their own luggage.
90s Tech in 'Executive Decision'
00:18:30
Chris Prime
They're just like, yeah, it's there. Like the whole movie, the terrorists know that there is a thing like a crazy weapon in storage.
00:18:38
Chris Prime
And yet they don't go down there to make sure it's OK.
00:18:41
Zach Sheets
Because, I mean, yeah, if anyone's had, like, bags, like, you know, if you check your, like, a bag before, you know they just throw those things just, like, as hard as they can onto, like, your fair belts and stuff and, like, onto the cart and, like,
00:18:51
Chris Prime
Oh, it it used to be so terrible back in the day. Like people complain about luggage now. You got to think like 1996 regulations.
00:19:02
Chris Prime
That literally was just like half the people working it were like not paying attention, nor did they care.
00:19:08
Zach Sheets
they're just hawk They're just hawking they're like hawking these suitcases the under under the plane
00:19:14
Chris Prime
Like that still was the error where speed was the thing. Like the airline was like, okay, Hey, there's so many air like competitors that like, they just had to like get people on as quickly as possible because there wasn't like a computer keeping track of the metrics.
Impact of Pacing and Plot Details
00:19:32
Chris Prime
It literally was just like, they were judging by how fast they can unload and and reload like cargo.
00:19:39
Chris Prime
Uh, and Yeah, and for long international hauls like that, like they're they're not going to patiently stack it gently. like Luggage back then was like, oh, you got luggage every few years because like your luggage would just get wrecked after so many journeys.
00:19:56
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:19:58
Zach Sheets
That's why everyone has like the hard hard plastic cases, though.
00:20:01
Chris Prime
It became a new standard. Back then, people had, like, soft cases because they just went, alright, like, it's gonna get hucked by other soft cases. And it's sort of like, this kind of gets into more luggage stuff, but, as soon as people start getting more protective gear, it starts messing up everyone else's gear. You know what i mean Like, it's sort of like, so everyone starts increasing their armor on their own stuff to protect each other from other armor.
00:20:23
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:20:24
Chris Prime
And, if you're transporting some crazy weapon of destruction, Wouldn't you want to check? Because, like, you're flying for, I don't know, eight hours with, like, DZ5C, some crazy chemical.
Gadget-Driven Problem Solving
00:20:41
Zach Sheets
With like the the sleeper the sleeper agent on the plane using like a but see use like like Like a po like a palm pilot or something? Like Mm-hmm.
00:20:49
Chris Prime
I don't think it was even, like, named Bram, like, Palm Pilot, but it was probably just one of those things, like, Like it probably just had like a calculator and like maybe like a phone book.
00:21:00
Zach Sheets
like a but a pocket organizer
00:21:02
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's a pocket organizer because i it it it seemed like one of those devices because I remember this thing. I remember when stores had it. it All it held was like contact information and maybe like a calendar.
00:21:15
Zach Sheets
And like a tip calle a tip calculator. i remember on Seinfeld it was like, it does other things! Because like, Jerry's dad just only wanted use it for a tip calculator.
00:21:27
Zach Sheets
there's There's a lot of like crazy 90s tech in this movie. Like there's a lot of like kind of like Apple looking screens when they're like that like dissecting the plane like or like doing like the tactical readout on the plane.
00:21:39
Zach Sheets
And then somehow they're doing like a video chat in 1996.
00:21:44
Chris Prime
I mean, maybe they had it like in government positions, but the quality was crazy because if you think about it, like, yeah, yeah.
00:21:47
Zach Sheets
The government had it? Yeah. It's like a Sega CD game.
00:21:53
Chris Prime
Like it would have been so blocky and jank. And I like how they really couldn't simulate it. The like video call because it would have been just the quality from like Jurassic Park when they did like the like camera capture on screen and they're playing like video clips.
00:22:10
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:22:11
Chris Prime
So, it didn't become that crisp on that kind of big PC back then.
Structure and Character Arcs
00:22:19
Chris Prime
It was nice to see Oliver Platt basically play it. See, if the movie starred Oliver Platt as Kurt Russell's role, I'd believe that.
00:22:26
Zach Sheets
Yeah. m and Like, yeah, him becoming like a kind of a head for coming like an action star, action hero.
00:22:32
Chris Prime
Yeah, well, I mean, an action scene. Because for most of the time, Kurt Russell just sort of like... is talking to people and then kind of waiting by doorways.
00:22:43
Zach Sheets
Yeah, he's kind of like, Caruso's like thinking up the plan and letting the other guys like execute it. He'll come up with an idea and then be like, all right, do it.
00:22:52
Zach Sheets
But yeah, but he gets called in because he you know he's like this intelligence consultant. And then they call in Steven Seagal because he's like the the head of the team that that as like was tracking the nerve gas. And then they they come up with a plan.
00:23:07
Zach Sheets
because and first, only options are we're going either let land and and we that we'll take it when it lands. But then Karras is like, well, they I think they have nerve gas on the plane. And they're basically use it used as a giant like missile that's going to blow up Washington, D.C. with like this nerve gas.
00:23:21
Zach Sheets
So the other option is we'll we'll we'll shoot it down so they can't get here, but then we're killing like 400 Americans. But then Steve Seagal has an idea because there's an experimental stealth plane called a Remora that can basically suck onto the bottom of the plane let them go into the plane undetected midair.
00:23:44
Zach Sheets
so yeah So they call Alvar Platt, who's like the guy designed it Then that's like the the plan. is like We're going to fly this experimental plane up and board the plane in midair.
00:23:53
Chris Prime
It's weird that they they make the experts it's like, okay, you thought of it, you should come with us. Like, even our reply is like, I don't go, I shouldn't go, but like like, why would you bring the tactical person and then the the engineer with you?
00:23:58
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:24:07
Chris Prime
It's like, okay, well, because I want to, and that's the plan. Like, all right, like, Colonel Travis.
00:24:14
Zach Sheets
Well, yeah. Well, Seagal has like a kind of like a a grudge against Kurt Russell because Kurt Russell, like, he's
Character Dynamics and Plot Twists
00:24:20
Zach Sheets
getting bad intel because the safe house under his intel and it and there it wasn't there.
00:24:27
Zach Sheets
he's like, well, you gotta come with us now because he screwed us over the last time.
00:24:31
Chris Prime
Well, it's like, did he try to get him killed?
00:24:36
Zach Sheets
don't know if he wanted to give a kill. I think he just wanted to, like, let me make him uncomfortable or be like, you're, you gotta, you're like, you gotta to be like, but like, prove, you prove your totes like this time. Like you gotta be there to prove that you're like, you know what you're talking about.
00:24:50
Zach Sheets
Fancy boy, like in your tuxedo.
00:24:56
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's like... It would been another thing if they actually had a different run-in in the past. And it's like, oh, it's like maybe Kurt Russell was a like an officer training, you know, and and sort of like met Travis in the past. And then Kurt Russell went more into the intelligence field and Steven Seagal went into the the more like hands-on combat experience field.
00:25:20
Chris Prime
And now they cross paths once again. But they didn't. It just seemed like, all right, well, you're just like another like part of the plan. And Steven Seagal, I was genuinely shocked of how they used them.
00:25:35
Chris Prime
You know, like when I first saw this, I was actually like, whoa, what happened?
00:25:38
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:25:39
Chris Prime
Is he to come? Is he to fly back later?
00:25:45
Zach Sheets
Well, I think we we were talking before we started referring to, like, Steven Seagal was, like, I think right at the, like, he was cresting over the hill of, down into, like, and heading down to, like, directed video Schlockdown. Because Because he was coming off Under Siege 2, then he made this, then he was in The Glimmer Man, and then Fire Down Below, and then The Patriot.
00:26:09
Chris Prime
Usually, this this would have been the thing that like could revitalize a career. It's like, oh it's like, at the end, it's like oh, you think this movie's going star Steven Seagal? Psych!
00:26:21
Chris Prime
Introducing this new guy. But, it's kind of cool that Steven Seagal was still able to keep going. You know, even though he he may not be in the Hollywood premiere, he still made movies.
Surprising Moments and Heroism
00:26:34
Zach Sheets
m
00:26:35
Chris Prime
It's impressive, but it's like, eh, I'm not going to see you all those.
00:26:39
Zach Sheets
Yeah, i think i I think definitely after this, like the the quality just started like dropping every movie.
00:26:45
Chris Prime
Oh yeah. I also think he became more and more difficult to work with.
00:26:50
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:26:51
Chris Prime
There's like so many stories from just like people going like, I don't think I can work with Steven Seagal again.
00:26:57
Zach Sheets
but But yeah, but yeah the the big twist is that the they... so everyone everyone's on their remora, and they they attach to the plane, and then has has like a vacuum tube, kind of like a space station tube, like where it forms like a seal against the plane.
00:27:14
Zach Sheets
But then it's like it's causing like a lot like like drag and like like the the seven forty seven is like is like climbing and it's like causing like a lot of pressure on the on the tube.
00:27:25
Zach Sheets
So almost everyone gets up to, up up to two until, uh, except for Steven Seagal. And so like, but then they have to detach. They have to close the hatch on the plane or else they're like, both plates are going get decompression and and everyone's going to be dead.
00:27:40
Zach Sheets
So Seagal sacrifice himself. He closes the hatch and then he gets like blown out spectacularly. out You see like his body fly out of the, like out of the tube, like into like this, into space.
00:27:53
Chris Prime
Yeah, I don't think he survives.
00:27:55
Zach Sheets
no
00:27:56
Chris Prime
It's so crazy high up. But actually, not really, because I mean, OK, one, he did have a parachute, so
90s Action Movie Tropes
00:28:03
Zach Sheets
He
00:28:03
Chris Prime
that's it.
00:28:04
Chris Prime
Then two, they they were like descending. And that was the problem because the pressure from both planes were dragging everything down.
00:28:13
Chris Prime
So. I don't know, maybe there's like an idea where he landed safely onto something.
00:28:20
Zach Sheets
he crashed into the ocean and survived.
00:28:23
Chris Prime
He karate through the ocean. Akito'd it. He flipped it.
00:28:26
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:28:28
Chris Prime
But no. I mean, it was a shocker. I i think I saw this movie in theaters. And I was just like, whoa, what happened?
00:28:35
Zach Sheets
They killed a second build person?
00:28:38
Chris Prime
I mean, for the trailer, does not give that away. I actually appreciate that the trailer kind of kept it vague and all that, you know?
00:28:45
Zach Sheets
Like, yeah, it like it seems like going to be like a two-hander, like Kurt Russell and Steven Skull are teaming up to stop this.
00:28:52
Chris Prime
But I think i think the big giveaway was the poster just you see Kurt Russell, like a phantom image of Kurt Russell and the plane.
00:29:00
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:29:02
Chris Prime
And then it it doesn't really tell you much because if you look at if you just judge the theoretical poster of Executive Decision, it makes it seem like it's really about the like bomber plane that like is there.
00:29:15
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:29:15
Chris Prime
And and maybe like the decision is to use it? At nowhere does it show you like anything else. It's not like the photo of the bad guy. doesn't even show you the bomb. doesn't even show you... like
00:29:26
Zach Sheets
Like the the plane? Like the the Oceanic Airlines plane?
00:29:30
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:29:30
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:29:32
Chris Prime
If anything, it's about a hangar.
00:29:34
Chris Prime
But, yeah, to to see the movie and theater, basically, have no context. Because I was too young. I think I was like 10. Like, maybe 10. You know, I got dragged to it because my parents wanted to see it.
00:29:44
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:29:47
Chris Prime
And just sitting there, and I think I've seen more Seagal movies at that point than kurt Russell movies, because it was easier to see Seagal movies at at that era. And just be like, wait, why did that, why did the, like, Out for Justice guy die? Like,
00:30:03
Chris Prime
You know, and then it's like, oh, it's Kurt Russell. Who? Because Kurt Russell wasn't making movies for kids yet. You know, it's like you had a grow up with Snake Plissken, luckily, or your parents had to like accidentally show you Escape from New York to know how much of a badass Kurt Russell was.
Resolution and Final Assessment
00:30:19
Chris Prime
Also, to get into the Kurt Russell thing. Well, I think it was like a few years prior. No, I think two years prior to this was the one where he was like being chased by the truck breakdown.
00:30:31
Zach Sheets
That was the year after this one. Mm-hmm.
00:30:32
Chris Prime
Oh, wow. So he was, like, still playing the nerd guy. So, yeah. to To, like, if you saw that within the same span, like, if this movie came out and then a year later, uh, Breakdown was coming out, then it's, like, from the start, from Executive Decision. You're like, you know, you're like, who what?
00:30:51
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:30:52
Chris Prime
So then you didn't see Executive Decision, you just think he's the nerd again.
00:30:56
Chris Prime
Yeah, uh, To just like flip on that and then get into the whole, like we hope you didn't see Patriot Games or Clear Present Danger, because when you see that, you're like, oh, they were trying to do it. They were trying to do the the like philosopher warrior guy story instead of like the typical a karate guy, like tough commando leader.
00:31:25
Zach Sheets
Yeah, this this is like Tom Clancy with the serial numbers filed off.
00:31:28
Chris Prime
yeah Oh yeah. That's exactly what it is. That's like, oh, did they... Someone definitely read like a Tom Clancy novel.
00:31:36
Zach Sheets
Like, yeah, they they sort they read Rainbow Six. like the opening The beginning of Rainbow Six, they're like, make that a whole movie.
00:31:42
Chris Prime
And then they hope that like a lot of people didn't read Tom Clancy. But around this time, I think Rainbow Six The Game was coming out. like It's about a year away. Before it was on PC and everything. So...
00:31:56
Chris Prime
so Yeah, you can't just accidentally make a Rainbow Six movie.
00:32:01
Zach Sheets
I mean, yeah, this this i mean the team was basically, like, if you called them Rainbow, no one would blink an eye like Because they're but they're basically Rainbow.
00:32:06
Chris Prime
No. The opening scene is pretty good. They're just like sweeping this mansion.
00:32:15
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:32:16
Chris Prime
So that's why when they came on the plane, they're like, oh, it's a sure thing. We're going to go there, do what we always do, like just get in position, and then just start taking people out. But the big thing that like I always keep forgetting was the sleeper agent, which they occasionally mention the sleeper agent now that like they they bring it up.
00:32:31
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:32:35
Chris Prime
Kind of at like the act two. After like, well, but I want to go back a little like when they do the boarding and then everything goes wrong, like the plane goes into like Star Trek mode of like they're being phased and they're all shaky.
00:32:48
Zach Sheets
so hu
00:32:52
Chris Prime
And nothing is bolted down. No one is ready for the turbulence.
00:32:59
Zach Sheets
And poor Joe Morton gets like his back broken, which I feel like Joe Morton just can't win in a movie. like every Every movie he's in, he just gets horribly injured or killed. It seems like...
00:33:12
Zach Sheets
But that's part of the reason like that Kurt Russell ends up with the plane because he's he's like helping get Joe Martin onto Cappy onto the 747. But then Kurt Russell basically like the last one up the tube and then they have to close it before Steven Scott has shut it before they both planes blow up or decompress horribly.
00:33:35
Zach Sheets
And then you also have like the team is basically like the team on the plane is basically like it's Kurt Russell, it's Joe Warren, and you have like Albert Platt, who's freaking out, and then BD Wong and John Leguizamo.
00:33:48
Zach Sheets
And John Leguizamo kind of becomes like the, like he takes over like the team leader basically.
00:33:53
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's funny because no one else like moves up in rank. They sort just, all right, well, now... like Because I thought John Leguizamo was going to fight him for leadership.
00:34:03
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:34:03
Chris Prime
If anything, John Leguizamo was like, well, we're going to do what like Travis said. We're just going to keep following that plan. But Carrus was like, no, no, no, we've got to rethink this. they're like, okay.
00:34:14
Zach Sheets
I do like the detail that like they lost a lot of their equipment, so they had some MacGyver solutions that they have left. like They have like limited guns.
00:34:21
Chris Prime
True, true.
00:34:22
Zach Sheets
They don't have like a lot of their stuff that they brought with them to do close quarters combat or like you know hack stuff. They just they have like some some cameras, like snake cams.
00:34:32
Zach Sheets
They have like their like their weapons they had on on their so on their person when they but when they got on the plane. And then that's pretty much it.
00:34:38
Chris Prime
Thank you.
00:34:39
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:34:42
Zach Sheets
So you have to come with solutions on the fly improvise things, which which is fun.
00:34:49
Zach Sheets
but it But this middle section, we were like we were saying, like there's a lot of like it's a lot of similar things are happening. like it's a lot of like they like John Lewis was i like in the in the top of the plane, just kind on that zipline kind of thing, like drilling holes to do cameras, and looking at the cameras, they're trying to find Hassan, because Russell will like recognize him if he sees him, even though there's like no photo of him.
00:35:12
Zach Sheets
like The one photo's from 25 years ago, no one actually knows what he looks like.
00:35:19
Chris Prime
Yeah, I do appreciate that there is a like a mystery to Hassan. Even though the audience have seen him, we keep we keep witnessing the like his like big speeches, but for whatever reason, like they can't figure out which one he is.
00:35:37
Zach Sheets
and And then a lot of it is like trying to disarm the bomb. Like they basically like, I'll reply because like they're like, oh, he's an engineer. He can, he can like disable the bomb. If like Cappy like walks him through it.
00:35:50
Zach Sheets
So there's, yeah, a lot of like cutting wires and, you know, checking, checking things on the bomb.
00:35:58
Chris Prime
I mean, they kind of gave Oliver Platt more to do.
00:36:00
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:01
Chris Prime
Because I like that Oliver Platt was just completely like, we should give up.
00:36:05
Zach Sheets
yeah We'll go talk to him. I'm sure he'll let us go.
00:36:10
Zach Sheets
i was kind of i scott surprised. There wasn't a lot of... of the passengers. like There's not a lot of passengers that you like get like you know like you kind of like get to know as characters.
00:36:19
Zach Sheets
It's only like there's like the air marshal who kind of like hides his badge and gun as soon as like things happen just to like guess not get caught or to get a good time to use it.
00:36:32
Zach Sheets
And then JT Walsh is like the like the opportunistic senator who's like, I can use this as my in my campaign.
00:36:32
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:36:38
Chris Prime
Oh, he is the, like, guy from Die Hard who basically is trying to, like, work with the terrorists.
00:36:43
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:36:47
Chris Prime
And, uh,
00:36:48
Zach Sheets
And then obviously you you have Hailey Berry as the main like stewardess who's like trying to keep... it like Eventually works with like the Kirt Russell and the team, but is like kind of on her own for like a long time.
00:37:00
Chris Prime
Oh yeah, I totally forget how they don't really meet until like so later in the movie.
00:37:07
Zach Sheets
Yeah, I always remember them like interacting way more than they do. like they don't like I don't think you like they see each other until like an hour into the movie.
00:37:15
Chris Prime
Easily into an hour.
00:37:17
Chris Prime
So I I kind of remember like this is a few years like Halle Berry just looks like the same for a while where she like looked like her character from the Flintstones movie.
00:37:17
Zach Sheets
and
00:37:29
Zach Sheets
Yeah. That's probably the... like the last big movie she in before this one. Because
00:37:35
Chris Prime
Really?
00:37:37
Zach Sheets
it was Flintstones and there was a movie called Losing Isaiah. was like a drama.
00:37:42
Chris Prime
I'm trying to think what movie when was Jungle Fever?
00:37:45
Zach Sheets
That was like her first movie. That was like 91.
00:37:47
Chris Prime
Oh, wow.
00:37:49
Zach Sheets
And like X-Men was 2000. So I was like, I feel like that's like what she like really blew up.
00:37:53
Chris Prime
Yeah, because in this one, she was the like typical like stewardess character that just sort of like goes along with the plan like they did in Passenger 57.
00:38:02
Zach Sheets
It
00:38:05
Chris Prime
Which, this movie does copy a little bit of Passenger 57.
00:38:09
Zach Sheets
copies a little bit from like a lot of like the other plane hijacking movies.
00:38:13
Chris Prime
yeah
00:38:15
Zach Sheets
But yeah, but they but they eventually, like, they kind of recruit her to try to find the sleeper agent, and they think and then she thinks he she found him. But then it's just, like, a guy who's... Is he smuggling diamonds?
00:38:27
Zach Sheets
Or he just has diamonds?
00:38:29
Chris Prime
I think he has diamonds. think he's just really protective of his diamonds.
00:38:34
Zach Sheets
Because it looks like he has, like, a pocket organizer, but then it turns out that it's just, like, a diamond case, and then all diamonds spill out. It's...
00:38:43
Zach Sheets
Which, that's when do love... like, there's a lot of, like... There's all the scenes, like, yeah, they're trying to line up. they can't They can't attack you because, there's like you know, something happens. There's a lot of that in the middle. But then, eventually, they kind of have, like... They think they have the bomb defused. I think it's when they, like, they have...
00:39:04
Zach Sheets
was like, they they managed to like to tell the F-14s chasing them that they needed them like 10 minutes. theyre They're like telling hey, we got in a plane. Like, give us like time to like take over the plane back.
00:39:13
Chris Prime
Oh, that's like the last 20 minutes of the movie.
00:39:17
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:39:17
Chris Prime
So for this, most of the chunk, it's really just like I said, the crew, the the commandos searching the plane, going through a montage of like going through the luggage and then find like makeshifting equipment.
00:39:30
Chris Prime
And then it's like, oh, Washington, like had enough of this, laying the plane travel from. don't even know where, like, where were they leaving? What airport were they he leaving from?
00:39:41
Zach Sheets
I think they left Greece and they're flying to Washington, know.
00:39:46
Chris Prime
Is no one on the plane Greek?
00:39:52
Chris Prime
Like, it's lucky that everyone on that plane is American. Like, everyone.
00:39:55
Zach Sheets
Yeah, every single person out there is American.
00:39:56
Chris Prime
So that's why everyone's... Yeah.
00:39:57
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:39:58
Chris Prime
And then, anyway Are we gonna mention that, like, the terrorist killed a stewardess by accident?
00:40:05
Zach Sheets
Oh, yeah, which ties into our movie last week, Monster Squad. Mary Ellen Trainor, the mob from Monster Squad, is one of the few passengers gets killed. They shove her head against like a...
00:40:16
Chris Prime
A certain lunch tray?
00:40:16
Zach Sheets
whatever that is. Mm-hmm.
00:40:18
Chris Prime
food cart? But, but, like, that was a complete, like, uh-oh. And I feel like that would have been the Haile Berry character. But it's like, alright, movie can't have two, like, helpful sewages, so, like, one's gotta go.
00:40:32
Zach Sheets
Well, Marla Maples is also there too, but she doesn't really anything.
00:40:36
Chris Prime
She, she looks worried a lot.
00:40:40
Chris Prime
Does she even have, like, speaking roles?
00:40:42
Zach Sheets
might have like one line, maybe. where She's like, oh, no, Gene, no. No.
00:40:48
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:40:52
Zach Sheets
Oh, and there's also, they like, the U.S. s tries to use, that like, they they have Jaffa, like, the leader, and they're like, hey, we'll release him if you, like, like land the plane and, like, not into Washington, like, land it somewhere else and then let the passengers go. And then, but then Hassan's like, no, I'm, like, I'm the sword of Islam. I'm going, like, but i'm um'm I'm on this mission now.
00:41:16
Zach Sheets
So he's he's like totally like the man, the US s is like is releasing Jaffa, but like he's he's still going to go through like his plan to like blow up Washington d c And then one of those guys questions him and he like shoots his own guy like, yo, question me. is It's the will of Arlo.
00:41:33
Chris Prime
Like, it's weird because the guy that they, like, got free, Joffrey, is sort of like, oh, hey, like, you want to stop this? And then, like, nah, I'm in charge now, right?
00:41:46
Chris Prime
i think. Even though Joffrey's completely, like, back in his life of luxury.
00:41:55
Chris Prime
like I feel like that's like this is a TV show where season three is like them going their own little civil war, but nah.
00:42:07
Chris Prime
It sort of just entered in that basically Hassan is on his own like new mission that everyone else is on on board with.
00:42:14
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Hasan didn't tell any of his guys that it's this is like a suicide mission. It seems like they just thought were like hijacking a plane to get their their leader back, like release their leader. But then it sounds like, nope, we're we're all going to blow up Washington, D.C.
00:42:30
Zach Sheets
with like this nerve gas that we have. So you all better be on board with that.
00:42:37
Chris Prime
See, like Washington reality wise would not have let it gone this far. They would have just been like, oh, where are you right now? That's fine. And then then just like fire away.
00:42:46
Zach Sheets
Yeah, well, The big thing is like they're worried about how it will look and like like... It's like if the president blows up that plane, it's going to ruin his reputation. It's over.
00:42:57
Chris Prime
Well, like I actually you don't actually see the president. You see the secretary of state or yeah, like that's in charge. So the president is just completely like not involved during this.
00:43:05
Zach Sheets
yeah well Well, well they have they have to get to he has to make the executive decision blow up the plane.
00:43:13
Zach Sheets
which state that like We do get like the title line, like the Secretary of Defense is like, it's up to the President now, it's an executive decision.
00:43:23
Chris Prime
Also, i just want to point out that Joffrey is played by the same guy that was the one-armed villain from The Fugitive.
00:43:32
Chris Prime
And that would have been too on the point if they had a Harrison Ford in this movie. This was like a Tom Clancy backdoor pilot.
00:43:41
Zach Sheets
I mean, i would like it would, it would work perfectly. Cause it's, it's a very, it's a very Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan thing. If Harrison Rhodes is like playing Jack Ryan again, it would be fit fit in there.
00:43:47
Chris Prime
Mm-hmm.
00:43:53
Zach Sheets
But yeah, after after, so yeah, after a lot of like them, like, you know, false starts and they're trying to fuse the bomb. they They figure out who they they they think they know who the sleeper agent is. And Kurt Russell, I don't know where he, like, he finds, like, a hoodie somewhere.
00:44:11
Zach Sheets
So he puts on this hoodie and then, like, he slicks back his hair, too. And then pretends to be, like, I think he's trying to pretend to be, like, one of the hijackers. But then he's, like, going with Halle Berry like, kill, like, the sleeper agent guy.
00:44:26
Chris Prime
If he were to look like a hijacker, wouldn't he wear like a polo or a button-down shirt, like dress like them? Because he completely does not. He looks like the Unabomber.
00:44:36
Zach Sheets
Still, I think Spice still has like his like dress pants and dress clothes like shoes on too.
00:44:40
Zach Sheets
Hoodie, yeah.
00:44:40
Chris Prime
Oh, you're right.
00:44:40
Chris Prime
So you just put on like a hoodie and wearing tuxedo pants?
00:44:43
Zach Sheets
i mean And I'm going to wet my hair and slick it back so I look like a terrorist.
00:44:49
Chris Prime
But he looks like another terrorist that like is doing a terrorist thing isn't part of like the first group.
00:44:53
Zach Sheets
Yep. Now it's time to put my plan in motion.
00:45:00
Chris Prime
We're going to go back to Greece.
00:45:04
Zach Sheets
but yeah but But they find out that the that guy is like the diamond guy. and then the the actual guy is like in the back of the plane. And then he's like using his palm pilot to try to blow up the bomb.
00:45:14
Zach Sheets
But then Albert Platt manages to diffuse it with... like like It's like Chekhov's straw. Because they he has this like this like habit of chewing on a straw the entire movie. And it's like, oh, I can use this to like stop the bomb from going off. Because can jam it in like the middle of like the two metal pieces that will slam together and detonate the bomb.
00:45:34
Zach Sheets
Also, like that like the bomb has like laser like a laser grid in it, too. It's just like this an insanely complicated bomb.
00:45:40
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's an over-engineered thing, because it needs... The laser grid can, like... It's as if you're trying to steal a diamond inside of it, right?
00:45:50
Zach Sheets
Yes. Well, that
00:45:52
Chris Prime
But the laser thing is powered by a battery. Then, it also has, like, a contact trigger that needs to, like, connect in the middle of the laser.
00:46:03
Zach Sheets
yeah yeah it's it's a it well yeah it's there's like There's a fake bomb on top and then you open you lift that up and then the real bomb is inside of it.
00:46:05
Chris Prime
Yeah, no, it and then it all had it also needed a front panel to, like, access.
00:46:18
Chris Prime
Why would they design it like this?
00:46:23
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's so... Where'd they get all... Where'd they get components to make like this like such an insane bomb? like It's like you get like... Where'd you get lasers and like whatever those like you know contacts are?
00:46:36
Zach Sheets
it kind of looks like more like a nuclear bomb. Like like the two contact points where like they they touch. It's like but it blows up.
00:46:42
Chris Prime
yeah but
00:46:42
Zach Sheets
and And... Where's like the nerve gas part too? like i didn't... you
00:46:47
Chris Prime
Is that separate? It's like, if it explodes... like I don't know. They really didn't want to get into the intricacy of the bomb. They just know that it's complicated because the bomb expert, Chappie, knows that it is. but
00:47:01
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:47:02
Chris Prime
it's It's not like a cool-looking... The agents need a mix or something before the chemical reactive. is reactive
00:47:11
Zach Sheets
hu
00:47:13
Chris Prime
It's sort of like, alright, well, the bomb is sort of complicated for no reason. And then... It also had, like, a hard drive. Do you remember, like, it had, like, its own, like, signal thing?
00:47:21
Zach Sheets
It had a full yeah half full computer and built into it basically. with Yeah, like with like an old school like platter hard drive.
00:47:31
Chris Prime
that I don't know why they couldn't just, like... Unplug the power source. Because... Because... It didn't seem like the bomb did any kind of, like...
00:47:43
Chris Prime
relay failsafe where it's like, okay, well, if it doesn't keep getting communication, it blows up. It seemed like if it got a signal, the signal turned on the special connector points that make the two metal pieces connect.
00:47:58
Zach Sheets
Then it blows up, yeah.
00:47:59
Chris Prime
And then it blows up.
00:48:01
Chris Prime
But then the laser doesn't really do anything.
00:48:05
Zach Sheets
No, yeah, because our plat kind of like, it's just like fills his straw through the lasers of the mayor just to get in there.
00:48:11
Chris Prime
So what? I don't i get into it this is so much because I know like it's movie magic. Don't think about it, but it didn't need to be some MacGuffin.
00:48:23
Chris Prime
Like it's already a MacGuffin bomb. Then they made the bomb trigger even more of a MacGuffin. Then the the trigger man is also a MacGuffin man because they didn't know which one he was. It was like a fake out.
00:48:35
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:48:37
Zach Sheets
and they so And they somehow connected the bomb to a 90s pocket organizer.
00:48:37
Chris Prime
And.
00:48:43
Chris Prime
that had, like, Wi-Fi?
00:48:45
Zach Sheets
some but Yes, somehow they had Wi-Fi in the ninety s
00:48:49
Chris Prime
Because that pocket organizer didn't have a dedicated wireless signal to send, and Bluetooth wasn't big yet.
00:48:57
Zach Sheets
Wouldn't you use, like, a cell phone? Like, wasn't that, like, the go-to in, like, the 90s for, like, bombs? Like, you, like, dial a number and it blows up?
00:49:04
Chris Prime
The RC waves, yeah. you Well, was like, uh, just radio control, i anything.
00:49:06
Zach Sheets
Yeah. or Or, like, yeah, or just, or, yeah, just, like, a switch, like, a detonating device.
00:49:09
Chris Prime
Didn't have to be a cell phone.
00:49:14
Zach Sheets
Like, but it's, like, this crazy, like, we we hooked it up to the the wizard pocket
00:49:21
Chris Prime
Like, what were the odds that no one else in the plane had something like that? Like, someone's, like, calculator can interfere with the signal and then just accidentally send off the bomb?
00:49:32
Zach Sheets
I gotta send an email from my pocket writer.
00:49:35
Chris Prime
Oh, I wasn't thinking email.
00:49:35
Zach Sheets
Uh oh.
00:49:36
Chris Prime
was thinking, like, a Game Boy. Game Boy turns on, you know?
00:49:38
Zach Sheets
yeah, turn it
00:49:42
Chris Prime
Also, this is the era where, like, any electrical device that anyone anyone brought in... was sort of like a problem if it wasn't battery yeah like if it wasn't like a like a cell not a cell like a watch battery or some sort of like flat battery power thing lithium power like the pressure would just like and then the airwaves would just sort of like explode things
00:49:48
Zach Sheets
yeah trick it turn it off, yeah.
00:50:10
Zach Sheets
And they were worried but it like it would affect the plane's electronics, so you can't turn it. like It's like, please turn off your like all the electronics.
00:50:16
Chris Prime
Yeah, back then, yeah, you'd just get like interference in their communication radio signals. But now it's like because so many things are different frequencies, it's like, whatever.
00:50:25
Zach Sheets
Yeah, just keep them off for the takeoff, and then it's fine. turn After we're after when in the air, turn it on, it's fine.
00:50:30
Chris Prime
Yeah, that was a later. that like As they were getting better, they like, okay, now you can turn it on. like You can turn laptops on at like certain points. But like yeah, remember there was an error where it's like, oh, takeoff and landings. Everything has to be powered off because who knows what would happen.
00:50:47
Zach Sheets
But back to Exit's decision. There's like there's like a big burst of action after like all a lot of that like you know more like thriller tension kind of stuff. and then like so like Everyone kind of bursts in and takes all the terrorists out.
00:51:05
Zach Sheets
And then the air marshal finally like jumps in action and shoots Ahsan, but then he gets like shot himself. And Ahsan slinks away and goes to the cockpit area.
00:51:18
Zach Sheets
And then manages to get the drop on Jolin Wazamo and like like shoots him.
00:51:24
Zach Sheets
And then does like like a kind of like a clever thing of like, well, i've if i'm going'm I'm going out, I'm taking the pilots out, which I guess, I guess like ninety s planes walls were like way thinner than they are now. Cause he's just like, he just shoots the door and like kills both pilots with a machine gun.
00:51:39
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's it's pretty clever because it's like we didn't know what he was going to do, but he has this look on his face like, oh, oh, this is going to work.
00:51:48
Zach Sheets
And they were like, they were like they they're like in Washington DC airspace now because they like crossed like the, whatever, the no flies. So like the w risk, whatever like line they had drawn up. Like if they go past this line, it's over.
00:52:00
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:52:02
Zach Sheets
but they were also like giving them time because they managed to use like short out the taillights and like do like Morse code to the fighter pilots, like give them message.
00:52:16
Zach Sheets
but Well, Kurt Russell says the only people that really know Morse code anymore are, like, Navy pilots.
00:52:16
Chris Prime
which you Which, like, the one Marine said something where, like, he he praises something where, like, he didn't trust Morse code, or... Like, he...
00:52:33
Zach Sheets
So that's what... So, like, he is aware that, like, F-14s following them. So he's like, we'll we'll get message in Morse code. They'll understand it.
00:52:43
Chris Prime
Yeah, what are the that it worked?
00:52:50
Zach Sheets
Because
00:52:51
Chris Prime
Yeah, that's it.
00:52:53
Zach Sheets
they're like Army Rangers, I think, or Airborne.
00:52:56
Chris Prime
Oh, they don't like pilots.
00:52:58
Zach Sheets
all all all All the yeah all the it's like all the like branches like are like rivals with each other.
00:53:03
Chris Prime
Yeah, but you can't really like compare the one, you know, it's like different branches completely. but the commandos are like, no, real men hide in shadows and pilots are pussies.
00:53:17
Chris Prime
Also, it's not even like a thing where they brought up at the beginning.
00:53:20
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:53:22
Zach Sheets
It's like, oh man, good thing we're not sending Navy SEALs up there because they're pussies. so that was said You send in the Airborne.
00:53:31
Zach Sheets
you One of the craziest things about in the aftermath of like them, like, you know, Hassan, like, killing the palettes and, like, kind of, like shooting bullets everywhere is that it kind of turns, like, Final Destination for, like, couple minutes because, like, the side the plane rips open and, like, people start getting, like, sucked out of the plane.
00:53:46
Zach Sheets
That
00:53:46
Chris Prime
Oh yeah, that poor group who got sucked out. They...
00:53:50
Zach Sheets
whole row of seats gets sucked out of plane.
00:53:52
Chris Prime
Yep.
00:53:54
Chris Prime
So does the like sleeper agent. His body gets sucked out for like as a final like screw
00:53:59
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:54:01
Zach Sheets
And then it's like, it's Chekhov's it's chekhos like Kurt Russell pilot lessons because he he has to like fly the plane now.
00:54:10
Zach Sheets
And and then like Halle Berry has to read him like the instructions of like how to like where everything they should be. And then he overshoots like the Dulles Airport runway, but then luckily like his airport that knows is like right near there, so they he flies to his like training field and and like lands it there.
00:54:30
Zach Sheets
But then blows up every plane sitting next to the runway. Because that airfield is not designed for 747. He's like...
00:54:37
Chris Prime
No, if anything, he just completely, like, added a new problem.
00:54:41
Zach Sheets
he's like he's like Even though he you say that he's probably like banned from that like from like the lessons anymore, it's like, you you can't fly here anymore, Kurt Russell. like You blew up all of our planes. And destroyed the entire runway.
00:54:57
Chris Prime
Well, like, what if other planes had a land there that night?
00:55:02
Chris Prime
Like, nope.
00:55:03
Zach Sheets
Yep, yep. Flight, yeah, go go to the a field, I guess. Try to go to Delos.
00:55:09
Zach Sheets
But yeah, it's a crash landing, but everyone walks away from it, so it's it's a good landing, and then everyone's good. Uh... everyone's everyone's good John Lee was almost, seemed like he was almost dead in the plane, but, like, they see him, Karell sees him outside, and he seems like he's good, he's got a couple bandit bandages on, it like he's like, he's fine.
00:55:28
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's like, oh, here's band-aid for your boo-boo. Sorry you got shot on your back.
00:55:32
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Like, stitched up your back, like, by Hassan.
00:55:36
Zach Sheets
and i guess And I guess, like, BD Wong got shot at some point, too, that we never saw, because he is, like, a bad John.
00:55:39
Chris Prime
that was you know That was during the time where the window blown out and the roll flies out.
00:55:46
Zach Sheets
Oh, okay, yeah.
00:55:47
Chris Prime
It was like a crossfire exchange.
00:55:48
Zach Sheets
a
00:55:50
Zach Sheets
And then, yeah, they look happy up, and then i but i don't i don't think he's going to be okay.
00:55:56
Chris Prime
Well, his vertebrae got compressed, so it's like... Maybe he's not broken-broken, but it's definitely like not...
00:56:02
Zach Sheets
Hopefully not, yeah. Yeah.
00:56:02
Chris Prime
Yeah. I don't know. There's no like sequel. There's almost there's no in-the-universe-of-executive-decision movie.
00:56:09
Zach Sheets
I mean, it seems like there is kind of like a sequel set up because like it's like they well or maybe it's just going to debrief but it's like the guy who pulls up is like, Dr. Grant, we need the Pentagon.
00:56:20
Zach Sheets
And then he's like, I guess he's taking Halle Berry to the Pentagon with him.
00:56:23
Chris Prime
which she is not going to get in.
00:56:24
Zach Sheets
You're not allowed. It's like he's like, can i buy a cup of coffee? But it's like he's going to this guy from the like the FBI is like bringing you the Pentagon. Like CIA is bringing you to the Pentagon. He's not going stop at like a diner and be like, all right, yeah, you can have coffee.
00:56:36
Chris Prime
Well, it's not like a, it's it's not like a super national like security.
00:56:36
Zach Sheets
We're not schedule. It's like,
00:56:39
Chris Prime
It's like another plane got hijacked.
00:56:41
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:56:43
Chris Prime
think they just want to like ask him questions because they, if you think about it, Washington had no idea was going on in that plane for hours.
00:56:50
Zach Sheets
Yeah, i'm sure I'm sure he's going like to like debrief, but like it's it's you can't bring a civilian with you like yeahic depending on debrief about this crazy situation.
00:56:58
Chris Prime
You can't bring a date.
00:57:00
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:57:02
Chris Prime
It's not even like a civilian. It's like literally just like a date, a coffee date.
00:57:05
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:57:06
Chris Prime
I mean, yeah, because like they're definitely going to like try to hide a lot of details and redact. So you can't have Halle Berry just sort of like, can tell anyone? Karasu's like, yeah. want to call your parents and tell them about what you just did?
00:57:19
Zach Sheets
He survived the hijacking and he almost got blown up like a crazy like bomb that had nerve gas attached to it.
00:57:27
Chris Prime
Also, like, that nerve gas thing is still being, like, saved by that piece of plastic that, like, Oliver Platt just sort goes, yeah, like, it's a memento.
00:57:33
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:57:35
Chris Prime
It's like, wait, so is it disarm or what's going on? Like...
00:57:40
Zach Sheets
I think they defused it because they were loading it into bomb squad like van, I think.
00:57:45
Chris Prime
Okay.
00:57:45
Zach Sheets
It's like off to the side a little at the end. But I think they like actually defused it for real. Not just like put a straw in it.
00:57:53
Chris Prime
Okay, because... was wondering, like, it's weird when people defuse bombs and it's like, yeah, we did it. It's like, it's still dangerous. it's like, nah, it's good.
00:58:01
Zach Sheets
Yeah, take it somewhere and blow it up yeah like in a safe environment. Yeah.
00:58:06
Zach Sheets
But yeah, executive decision. I don't know if I would like, like if you're going to watch a like plane action movie, I would say that like this is probably like the last suggestion I would give.
00:58:19
Zach Sheets
I would say like Conair, Air Force One, Passenger 7 like above this one.
00:58:25
Chris Prime
it's in' For me, it's in the middle. it's It's more of a slower burn action movie where there should have been more tension where it wasn't just like TJ Walsh like being threatened.
00:58:31
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah.
00:58:37
Zach Sheets
your t wall Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:58:38
Chris Prime
And then the terrorists are sort of like, i don't know, they're on like patrol duty. They they like they do a lot of Halle Berry watching where it's like, oh, I need to do this. Okay.
00:58:52
Chris Prime
I need to give food. Okay. you I need to check in this room. Okay. So it's not like the tension is escalating and there's like a threat.
00:59:03
Chris Prime
Because the terrorists know they need like a lot of like the leverage for a while.
00:59:08
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:59:08
Chris Prime
And again, they don't check on the bomb. they They don't call anyone else to get updates of anywhere outside the plane. And then even when they kill like like a hostage intentionally,
00:59:25
Chris Prime
It sort of just gets brushed under the rug. You know i mean? Like, the government is not like, oh no they killed that senator.
00:59:34
Zach Sheets
Yeah. i guess I think at that point, it was like, well, we're going to blow the plane up anyway, so who cares?
00:59:39
Chris Prime
Yeah, true.
00:59:42
Chris Prime
But, yeah, it's just a slow burn, like, action thriller. Even though, like, the last act is where everyone kind of meets.
00:59:51
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:59:53
Chris Prime
Because the villains don't know anything about what's going on with like anyone until like the ambush. like There's no suspicion. There's no... like like If Kurt Russell tried to infiltrate the the audio the like the seat early and then sort of met the main villain...
01:00:13
Zach Sheets
Yeah, or or if or if the guys were, like, taking, like, kind of slowly taking out, the teeth like, their terrorists, like, one by one. Like, somehow they were figuring out a way to, like, get up there and, like, take someone out and, like, drag them down to the cargo hold or something. Or, like, do a little bit more, like, action sprinkled throughout, like, the middle part.
01:00:29
Chris Prime
yeah I'm surprised the the commandos didn't pull any like pranks on the the like terrorists. like They were doing like gremlin things, like shorting wires out, locking them in bathrooms.
01:00:40
Chris Prime
like just Just some sort of guerrilla tactics at a low level.
01:00:43
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
01:00:44
Chris Prime
I mean, it it'd be silly, i know, but at least it'd be like something.
01:00:51
Chris Prime
Because the middle just stretches for a while. Until basically they're like, all right, now we've got a plan. We're going execute. But it's the same plan that they wanted from the beginning.
01:01:00
Zach Sheets
Yeah, they try to do it like two or three times and it's like, at the of like well fine now we're finally doing it. we're We got all of us running different spots of the plane. We're going to burst in and like just breach and like shoot them all.
01:01:11
Chris Prime
i mean, it was a good plan. It would have worked.
01:01:13
Zach Sheets
I kill the lights and we have our cool night vision goggles on.
01:01:17
Chris Prime
The only thing is they couldn't figure out who the sleeper agent was, which even the sleeper agent didn't seem like he was paying attention for a while.
01:01:26
Zach Sheets
Oh, one one one weird thing thought i thought that I thought about before we wrap up is like, it It was weird that like the kind of first time they were going burst in and kill everybody, they gave Kurt Russell a shotgun, which I don't think is like a great weapon for like a crowd in a plane.
01:01:39
Chris Prime
A first time shoot? Yeah. Oh, that would have blown holes in the plane immediately.
01:01:46
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:01:47
Zach Sheets
It's like, oh, I missed. like Or like it's like, you're too far away. like this like this The shot just like spreads everywhere and hits a bunch of passengers.
01:01:56
Chris Prime
I mean, that and if you saw how Hassan took out the pilots, the walls are paper thin, so that thing's just going to go through things.
01:02:02
Zach Sheets
Apparently, yeah.
01:02:08
Zach Sheets
But it's it's it's that like it's it's definitely memorable for like that Steven Seagal twist. like I think that's sort the the main thing people remember about this movie is that Steven Seagal died 20 minutes into the movie.
01:02:17
Chris Prime
Agreed.
01:02:18
Zach Sheets
And for being like a solid Kurt Russell movie.
01:02:22
Chris Prime
Yeah, like, where Kurt Russell plays the not-action hero, it's it's definitely interesting, even though, like, he kind of becomes it at the end. Like, this is the moment you waited for. He does become Snake Plissken, but he definitely looks the part of, like, an action star where he, like, wets his hair.
01:02:40
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
01:02:42
Chris Prime
But yeah, I see what you mean on the the whole, like, it it's just at the lower level of a hijack movie. It's sort of missing the beats of, like, escalating tension.
01:02:57
Chris Prime
But i think the end kind of makes up for it. It's something that you finally get the big payoff.
01:03:05
Zach Sheets
Yeah, when things when things finally do pop off, it's like, oh, this is cool.
01:03:09
Zach Sheets
But yeah, so I think that'll do it for this week's episode. Come back next week, we're be diving into Leprechaun because you know it's going to be st Patrick's Day time. and it And it's getting a new 4K from Lionsgate Limited, which I guess is like they're starting a boutique 4K line. weird.
01:03:30
Zach Sheets
It's not like Arrow or like one of those companies. It's actually Lionsgate themselves are like putting out like a four k And like it's like a limited edition kind of thing.
01:03:41
Zach Sheets
But yeah, we we'll we'll dive into all the all the wackiness of the the first Leprechaun movie.
01:03:47
Zach Sheets
And head over to the site, we got all of our user stuff out there. We got news news, reviews, trailers, all like you can check want check out commentary from last month. It's still up there. Panda Plan with Jackie Chan.
01:04:00
Zach Sheets
We watched that for Lunar New Year. And our GameBox 2.0 is up there if you want to check out are like the games we reviewed last month. And we'll have a new new commentary, new GameBox up soon on the site as well.
01:04:13
Zach Sheets
So check out that. And we're heading to PAX soon, too. So get ready for that coming up the end of this month.
01:04:19
Zach Sheets
And yeah, so for Chris, I am Zach. And we will see you next week.