MovieChat Forums > Executive Decision (1996) Discussion > Excellent screenplay, great movie.

Excellent screenplay, great movie.

posted 11 years ago by nimstic
5 replies | jump to latest

Once again, such a bad idea it would be if I went by IMDB rating and never watched such a piece of gem. Flawlessly written, well directed and good acting by Kurt Russel and John Leguiziamo. I think I love this movie all the more because the heroes in this movie are real people and no conscious effort is made to make them look superficially 'heroic' and they simply appear heroic by their realistic actions.

8.5/10 from me!

And not surprisingly, Rotten Tomatoes has rated it better (63%)

[–] airlight-europe 11 years ago

This is also one of my favourite 90s action/thrillers. Really solid direction, and the story allows you to closely follow the small group of people to the point where they all feel like distinct characters. Just a really good movie with a tempered, restrained pace and mostly believable plot turns and events. A very solid 7/10 from me.

[–] sinbad8982 10 years ago

This movie is a classic of its genre, You just cant go wrong with a Kurt Russell flick.

[–] benGsboat 9 years ago

I liked it very much, too. With a better title, it likely would have made more $ at the box office.

[–] crooky-3 9 years ago

I think what I like about it is seemingly every action movie dealing with infiltration is maybe a few minutes of setup and then smash and grab. This movie is so much more intelligently done all around, with everyone involved being portrayed as normal people with whatever qualifications they'd have rather than some superhumans. The result is a lot of tense scenes.

Even towards the end, Kurt Russell having to land the plane and that not going perfectly like in so many action movies where someone's had one *beep* pilot lesson and they suddenly can land anything perfectly.

Even when it comes to the terrorist characters - it's a nice change of pace to not have them all be shrieking idiots.

Just all around am impressed. I too didn't see this until just recently and was pleasantly surprised.

[–] ipacac22 9 years ago

I think what I like about it is seemingly every action movie dealing with infiltration is maybe a few minutes of setup and then smash and grab. This movie is so much more intelligently done all around, with everyone involved being portrayed as normal people with whatever qualifications they'd have rather than some superhumans. The result is a lot of tense scenes.

Very well stated. The infiltration of the plane by the soldiers was one of the best I've seen in a Hollywood movie. It wasn't all smash and grab like you pointed out, they actually used tactics that real special ops soldiers would seemingly employ. I also liked the fact that the air marshal didn't try to go all cowboy on the terrorists with his pistol, and only used it when he had no other recourse. The writers did their homework on this one.

Utah! Get me two.