Executive Decision (1996)

When an airliner is hijacked by terrorists, an elite group of operatives are secretly placed on the plane midflight. Their mission: find and defuse a nerve toxin bomb destined for the U.S., then rescue the passengers. Directed by film editor Stuart Baird (STAR TREK: NEMESIS) in his directorial debut. A pulp thriller which seems cobbled together from past movies like JUGGERNAUT, DIE HARD and the AIRPORT movies. It's poorly written and acted but that doesn't mean it's not (crudely) effective. It accomplishes what it set out to do. As the "fish out of water" hero, Kurt Russell brings his mix of down to earth masculinity and everyman stand in to the cliched part while, thank heavens, the dreadful Steven Seagal is killed off early in the movie so we're spared his stoic non acting. As the head flight attendant, Halle Berry is used for her striking looks and not much else and as the terrorist leader, David Suchet is much more believable here then he ever was as Hercule Poirot. As usual for the period, there's an Islamophobic feel to the proceedings which I understand had been edited out of the European release. With John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, BD Wong, Len Cariou, Marla Maples and J.T. Walsh.