The direction, the screenplay, by Andrew W. Marlowe, and the cast all come together to provide the audience with an action-packed, intense thriller in the finest action movie tradition. The German director, Wolfgang Petersen, who has also directed THE PERFECT STORM, SHATTERED and DAS BOOT, keeps the pacing, the intensity of the tension, and the rolling action scenes at just the right level. His direction of this fine cast is also superb.

The acting was well done and efficient. Harrison Ford portrays President James 'Jim' Marshall very well as the smart, determined, brave man who can save the others and does his usual great job as an action hero.

Gary Oldman, as Ivan Korshunov, "proved once again that nowhere is safe." He somehow manages to look just the part of a Russian terrorist, giving the audience a full glimpse of his character's personality and motives; not just the typical one note caricature of the typical bad guy. At one point he has the president's 12 year old daughter, Alice (Liesel Matthews), in the hot seat, perhaps as the next chosen victim. After giving her a speech about her Dad, and how he also was a father, like her's, this gutsy kid bravely says, "You are a monster, and my father is a great man. You're nothing like my father!" He in turn kisses her tenderly on the forehead.

The scenes between Ford and Oldman are absolutely marvelous, as they really sparkle together as warring foes.

Glenn Close, who plays vice-president, Kathryn Bennett, also does a good job playing the 2nd in command, being torn as to what is to be done, and who to listen to. She is given a hint of what President Marshall would do, when he manages to contact them on a cell phone he found in the baggage compartment. He says to illustrate his opinion: "If you give a mouse a cookie.... She answers: "He's going to want a glass of milk," fully understanding what he was saying. This line came out of a well-known children's book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," by Laura Joffe Numeroff, who was thrilled that a line from her book was used in the script! This book makes the point that giving what the mouse wants will lead to other requests. This is the same point that president Marshall made to his vice-president.

Some of the best scenes were Ford's game of wits with the bad guys on board the plane, the flying sequence over German air space, the President's rescue by the new A-F-1, and the flight scenes with the terrorists taking control.

This film is rated R for violence and profanity.