It’s Die Hard on a plane! Again! But a bigger plane than Passenger 57!

This week on the show, Phil and Liam discuss Stuart Baird’s popular 1996 action-thriller EXECUTIVE DECISION starring Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal* (*kinda). Is this one of the best ‘Die Hard on a blank’ films of the era? The guys aim to find out!

When fanatical terrorists take control of a 747 passenger plane heading from Athens, Greece to Washington D.C., Army intelligence consultant Dr. David Grant (Kurt Russell) informs the pentagon of his suspicion that the terrorists are planning to use a stolen nerve-agent known as DZ-5 to launch a massive attack on the Eastern seaboard. If Grant is correct, this means that the government may have to shoot the plane down before it reaches US airspace, so in a last-ditch attempt to avoid this scenario and save the lives of the 400 passengers on board, Grant reluctantly becomes part of a daring mission led by Special Forces Lt. Col Austin Travis (Steven Seagal), whereby a small strike team will use an experimental aircraft to board the 747 in mid-air, and attempt to take back control of the hijacked plane.

This film is positively overflowing with ‘DIE HARD DNA’, from the premise to the personnel, which includes the likes of producer Joel Silver, editor Frank J. Urioste, and actress Mary Ellen Trainor, amongst others. The guys discuss how this movie raises the stakes of the ‘Die Hard on a Plane’ paradigm through the utilization of a unique selling point: the treacherous mid-air transfer of a counter-assault team that includes the likes of John Leguizamo, Joe Morton, BD Wong, Whip Hubley and Oliver Platt.

Despite the film’s slam-bang entertainment value and multi-cultural American cast, the guys still have to wrestle with its uncomfortable racial politics, in particular its portrayal of the fictional Middle-Eastern terrorist group who are led by legendary British thespian Sir David Suchet as ‘Nagi Hassan’. They also discuss the low-key brilliance of Halle Berry’s performance as the courageous flight attendant Jean, Kurt Russell’s ingenious chat-up lines, and the wider symbolic significance of a key character’s death…

The film’s excellent ensemble cast makes for a highly competitive edition of the ‘Die Hard Oscars’, followed by a fun ‘Double Jeopardy’ trivia quiz that will be of particular interest to fans of the late, great, perennially missed JT Walsh! Fasten your seatbelts folks!

EXECUTIVE DECISION trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W4wp9_HYm4

At the time of release, EXECUTIVE DECISION is streaming on Tubi and is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple/iTunes, YouTube, Fandango and all the usual platforms.