
Let me begin this review by stating that Air Force One Down which features Katherine McNamara is a film that I did not even know existed, and so I really had no expectations once I started watching it on my flat panel. McNamara is certainly only known for doing some telly and rom-coms, however, she did get down and dirty in The CW’s Arrow as well as Walker: Independence which was a spin-off that I watched a bit of so I thought it was fair to give her a complete benefit of the doubt when headlining an indie action’ flick. Though it goes without saying, and I do emphasize, my expectations for this film were literally hitting the floor basically.
As I have said before in my review, some might think that my points have little substance, to say the least. But I have no apologies about my praise towards this Air Force One Down effort and even venture to state that Ms. McNamara might be able to exceed some leading ladies of action if only she were more active. The film, directed by James Bamford, is a neat and easy-to-watch action movie that lasts for a little over 86 minutes with our heroine who seems to be tapping into her best John Wick performed in some very fierce and well-coordinated fight scenes that are enjoyable to watch.
The movie begins with the introduction of Allison Miles who is a cool member of the United States Marines, as we know because she makes all her male colleagues look like idiots in hand-to-hand combat training. Following the abovementioned drill, her uncle Sam Waitman, who is head of the Secret Service and was played by the amazing Anthony Michael Hall, offers her to join as she is the most qualified candidate for the opening. Let me stress that Hall’s character is an actual Uncle Sam this sort of idea is ingenious where right at the start the audience can see the humour of the movie.
When she reports to her new workplace, her first task is to perform the function of a donut, which basically means bringing coffee and cake to her colleagues. Mo worries however since a person from Waitman’s detail is unable to carry out the task, therefore, Miles is once again on the President’s unit on the presidential airplane Air Force One. The character played by Ian Bohen is not one of Miles’ favorite presidents, but she does get excited about becoming one of his bodyguards: it is a great experience that happens only once in a lifetime.
But you have to expect it since the plane is soon hijacked by terrorists whose aim is to terminate the agreement that the Commander in Chief has made concerning oil and energy resources with Askovia. All agents get killed and only Allison and Sam remain; it forms the beginning of an attempt to rescue the President and eliminate terrorism before he signs the deal.
In no way does Air Force One Down seem to be flawless. For instance, it does have a slow patch halfway through, quite a few generic plot holes as well as some awkward performances but it more than makes up for that with some killer beatdowns and a finale where it is Allison, played by McNamara who runs a gauntlet of terrorist fighters equipped with automatic guns, knives, hammers as well as her own fists and feet. The film is, for the most part, impressive this time round because it is McNamara who sells it in this particular role and she is very convincing as if she has done it all her life. It is also good news that she put in the effort to prepare for the physical role since she performs admirably in several fight scenes in the film where she makes Stallone and Schwarzenegger proud of her. What’s even more amazing is that she must weigh at least a third of those two action icons. When the action hits, you can tell it is really her going through the motions and if she wants to, then certainly there is a career waiting for her in action cinema.
When it comes to the perspective of the actor, in this case, McNamara, I have already mentioned the impeccable physical looks, and I want to reemphasize that she sells every single word she has to say. She is a tough cookie and she will demonstrate that she can antagonize as much as she can antagonize. I will never forget the first ferocious female, who when in a scene with a large antagonist who was taking out a very large knife, calmly said “Hi” and then “Nice knife.” I’ve got a feeling I will go against the grain in this case but there was a strange smile on my face at that moment and for good reason. And yes, it also helps that she is quite the looker, but then again, let’s either toughen up or relish the fact that watching pretty women kick up a storm in the movies is pretty hot.
Also in the mix is Ian Bohen as President Dallas Edwards (yes, Dallas!) and he is not your typical leader of the free world he has a very particular set of skills that I found quite refreshing. This is the guy you’d want to be president if there’s ever a need for a certain type of president as he even gets in fights and can be seen shooting with an AK-47. One can almost say that he is reliving or reenacting Harrison Ford’s role in ‘Air Force One’. Of course, there is no way in the world that one with the name Dallas can’t fight a few battles and has got to be able to spare a fist or two. It is a good thing though that the two of them have quite good on-screen chemistry with our femme fatal star and are somewhat an attraction, but kudos to them they manage to be totally polite and professional.
Anthony Michael Hall has been my favorite actor right from my childhood and I am yet to get over the fact that how much he has evolved from that teenage actor who was a regular in 80’s comedies. Hall, in the coming years, has undoubtedly sloughed that type of casting by working on all aspects of the different kinds of projects in different periods and genres and he never fails to impress on why he has love in the industry after so many decades. Here as Allison’s Uncle Sam (seriously, I love that), he adds some grit to the movie and also contributes in a significant way to the proceedings and the setting of the plot. Of course, he’s not on screen for very long, it is a minor part, but he is able to improve the narrative and even has his own small combat in which he gets thrown into the action.
In this regard, it is worth noting that the film’s trailer made it appear like Die Hard in a somewhat true airplane, yet the action lasts for a short while before the movie moves to the mainland for the final third of the movie. While on board, there is a nice fight between Miles and one of the terrorists which seemed to me completely out of the blue and after a while, the fight scene had my complete attention. I must admit that I would have liked there to be some more burst of adrenaline on the plane itself with some other fight, but it is the last one that downs that feeling.
As soon as Miles and President Edwards vacate the airplane, let’s say that the movie sinks and the pace sluggishly grinds to a complete stop. I get it, certain circumstances are necessary for the audience to have some quieter moments in order to comprehend the two protagonists who have been joined together through recent events, but it nevertheless weakened the rhythm that had already been established, and the siege on Air Force One could have been prolonged for a lot longer. Nevertheless, I enjoyed how they changed the setting and switched the focus so that the film was not as confined as one would expect for the majority of the runtime.
Now, the climax of the action comes, and this is where I need to pay some attention to McNamara because the action sequence honestly, instantly reminded me of another movie. A movie with Scott Adkins as one of the lead actors. Here we see Miles escaping the grasp of her antagonists as she ‘slices’ through an enemy horde and it gave me goosebumps when she began to ‘kill en all’ because it was quite similar to the now famous scene with Scott Adkins in Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning where he embarks on a wretched and violent journey that sees him go through corridor after corridor of UNISOLS. I mean yes, this newer scene with McNamara, in fact, seems to be a tribute to that one, and Adkins looked in great shape as she carried out every single action move every one of which involved a knife or machine gun or whatever weapon, and she completely destroyed her enemy. Dmytro Rudyi, the stunt coordinator, and Pavel Avilov, the fight choreographer are to be commended for crafting this phenomenal grapple fest. Is it possible for a beautiful and entertaining performer to give too much for the cause? Clearly, McNamara enjoyed revealing the impact of her active training on film.
In general, Air Force One Down is full of those predictable cliches that we would expect in a bad movie, as well as a twist-plugged betrayal that you can predict from a million miles away, but once again I let all of that go because it was for better than expected. I was expecting nothing at all and in fact, what I got was nothing short of a sleeper hit in my opinion with Katherine McNamara really impressing as a serious contender for an action movie star. She has the charm, the attitude, the sass, and the moves to completely own this type of genre if she needs to and the fights are much better than what is seen in most Hollywood films which have thrice the budget. It is sad that this film will be ignored by most diehard fans just as I almost did but if you watch it, even as I did, you will probably be surprised by the brainless chaos that takes over the screen. The choreography has an 87 Eleven tinge to it and that’s about the best compliment I can give it as those cats are the real deal and the best action designers in the business right now. Great job, Ms. McNamara. You have fully captured my attention.
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