Airforce One

It was also entirely likely that he would play a venerable, good president, rather than the scurrilous, corrupt post Nixon presidents that have been fashionable in recent decades in film.

But having this ageing President in Airforce One almost single handedly whooping vicious terrorists in hand to hand combat, really is pushing the bounds of credibility a bit too far!

Airforce One is the name given to the President's aeroplane; that same aircraft that was parked at Cairns airport last year when Bill Clinton paid us a visit.

In Airforce One the plane is hijacked with the great man on board by a Russian (or is it an Arabian, or is it an Iranian) terrorist group, in order to extort the release of a cold hearted terrorist from a Russian jail.

It's impossible to consider Airforce One without commenting on the politics of the film, because Airforce One is so blatantly propagandist.

It's interesting for example that the hijackers are from what used to be the eastern edge of the U.S.S.R., in an area where much of the world's oil reserves huddle, and where in particular Iraq has been stirring up trouble of late.

It is perhaps more likely though that the oil deals being forged lately in Baku, to do with the piping of oil to Moscow, coloured the story line of Airforce One.

There are some real American dollars to be made in the coming years in that area of the world and some potentially unpopular political decisions will need to be sold to the American public.

It would be expedient for example to just pump the black gold through Iraq, regardless of Hussein and his latest posturings!

Then there's the ongoing but pretty hot conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. It's interesting that one of the very nasty terrorists in Airforce One bore a striking resemblance to Yassar Araffat!

The Jewish lobby in New York might have been pretty happy about that.

Clinton also gets a pretty good showing in Airforce One. Harrison Ford's President is pretty strongly recognisable as a sweet but very firm Bill Clinton.

Airforce One bends over in all sorts of directions to convince us that this President is a loving husband and father to his good looking wife (read Hilary), and to his young daughter (again read Clinton.)

This President is also portrayed as being a wonderful champion of high morals when it comes to international affairs and is absolutely revered by Americans as he fights ever so effectively, with his bare fists and automatic weapons, which ever evil empire you wish to identify in the film.

Politics aside, Airforce One works reasonably well as an action film; a sort of Oval Officed Die Hard, or Passenger 57. Ford doesn't look absolutely ridiculous given his age and small frame fighting off huge terrorists, as he did last year slugging it out with a huge villain in Clear And Present Danger.

But he is definitely no longer Hans Solo or Indiana Jones and can't be expected to successfully carry these roles