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Let me go on record before I officially start this review by saying that Air Force One Down starring Katherine McNamara flew right under my radar, and I wasn’t expecting anything at all from this movie when I put it on my flatscreen. After all, McNamara is really only known for doing some TV and romcoms, but she did get down and dirty on The CW’s Arrow along with the prequel series Walker: Independence which I did see a little of so I thought I would give her the benefit of the doubt when it came to headlining an indie action flick. After all, and I stress, my expectations for this film were literally hitting the floor basically.
Well, I am officially eating crow with this review and I’m sure there are some of you out there that would strongly disagree with me but upon viewing said Air Force One Down, I have to say that I enjoyed the hell out of it and Ms. McNamara might just give some other ladies of action a run for their money in the future if she does any more adrenaline laced projects. The movie, helmed by James Bamford, is a slick and breezy 86 minute plus actioner that showcases our heroine essentially channeling her best John Wick in some very brutal and expertly choreographed action sequences that are quite impressive in their execution.
The movie opens as we are introduced to Allison Miles who is a bad ass member of the United Stares Marines, and we know this because she essentially makes her fellow male comrades look simply foolish in a hand-to-hand combat exercise. After said drill, her uncle Sam Waitman (played by the awesome Anthony Michael Hall), who is the head of the Secret Service recruits her as she is by far the best applicant for the opening. Let me stress that Hall’s character is an actual Uncle Sam so that right there is a stroke of genius.
Upon starting her new gig, Miles is relegated to donut duty which is essentially serving coffee and pastries to her counterparts. Mo worries though as someone on Waitman’s detail cannot make the assignment, so Miles is now part of the President’s unit on the one and only Air Force One. The President, played by Ian Bohen, is not a favorite of Miles but she jumps at the chance to serve as one of his protectors as it’s an incredible opportunity that comes once in a lifetime.
Wouldn’t you know it though that when the plane takes off, it is almost immediately taken over by terrorists who are looking to put a stop to the Commander in Chief’s new oil and energy deal with the country of Askovia. Every and all agents are quickly dispatched of leaving only Allison and Sam left to save the day and thus commences a battle campaign to free the President and take out the terrorist threat before the deal is nixed.
Now Air Force One Down is far from perfect, and it does suffer from some major pacing issues in the middle, cliche plot holes and a little clunky acting but it more than makes up for that with some killer beatdowns and a finale that sees McNamara’s Allison running a gauntlet of terrorist combatants utilizing automatic weaponry, knives, hammers, and her own fists and feet. The movie is mostly impressive because McNamara sells it in this role, and she looks comfortable like she has done this many times before. It also bodes well that she trained heavily for the physical aspect of the film, and she shines in the movie’s numerous action sequences where she does Stallone and Schwarzenegger proud. It’s even more impressive because she probably weighs a third of those two action icons. When the action hits, you can see that it is truly her going through the ringer and if she wants, she definitely has a future in action cinema if she wants it.
McNamara isn’t only believable physical wise, but she also sells the attitude that must come along with this type of tough as nails character. She essentially talks the talk as well as walks the walk. One memorable scene has a rather large antagonist taking out a very big blade as she simply whispers “Hi” followed by “Nice Knife.” I know I’m going to be in the minority here, but I was smiling at it and in a good way. It doesn’t hurt that she’s also easy on the eyes but let’s face it, a good-looking woman kicking ass on film is super sexy.
Supporting McNamara is Ian Bohen as President Dallas Edwards (that’s right, Dallas!) and he isn’t your traditional leader of the free world in that he’s got a particular skill set which I found extremely refreshing. If we ever needed a certain type of president, it would be this guy as he gets in on the action as well including fisticuffs and unloading with an AK-47. You could say that he’s channeling his inner Harrison Ford from Air Force One. After all, you can’t have a first name like Dallas and not know how to kick a little ass. It also bodes well that he shares some decent chemistry with our femme fatale star and there is even some sexual tension between the two, but I have to give them kudos as they keep it strictly professional.
Anthony Michael Hall has always been a favorite actor of mine and it has been solid to see how he has grown from that initial teenage actor that appeared in all those 80’s comedies. Hall, throughout the years, has definitely shed that skin of type casting by doing all kinds of different projects in all genres and he always demonstrates why he is still in the game after all these decades. Here as Allison’s Uncle Sam (seriously, I love that) he brings some grit and validity to the movie and is important to the proceedings and setting the course for the plot. Unfortunately, he’s only in the film for a short stretch of time but he still elevates the story and even gets to get his hands dirty a little in his own quick fight scene.
It’s important to note that the trailer for the movie made it look like another Die Hard clone on an airplane and while that is true to a certain extent, the action only takes place for a small amount of time before it eventually hits land for the last third of the flick. While on board, there is a pretty decent fight scene between Miles and one of the terrorists that totally took me by surprise and once the scene was finished it had my full attention. I actually would have liked to have seen a little bit more in terms of adrenaline while on the plane with maybe another altercation but the finale more than makes up for it.
Once Miles and President Edwards escape the plane, this is where the movie slows down considerably, and the pacing comes to a crashing halt. I understand that we needed some quitter moments to become more invested in the two protagonists that have been thrown together by recent events, but I felt it still damaged the momentum that was initially started and the siege on Air Force One should have continued for a while longer, but I liked how they switched things up and changed scenery giving the movie a less claustrophobic feel that we all thought was going to be for the majority of the running time.
Now the climactic assault is where McNamara really shines and I’m about to give her some mad props as the action sequence reminded me of another scene from a different movie that contained none other than action star Scott Adkins. Here we see Miles break free from her captors as she slices her way through an enemy gauntlet and as soon as she started to “kill ’em all,” it reminded me of the now classic scene with Adkins in Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning where he fights his way through dark and deadly underground corridors hammering his way rather violently through a contingent of UNISOLS. Yes, this newer scene with McNamara felt like a homage to that sequence and she is more than up to the task and looks sensational executing each and every move brandishing everything from machine guns to knives and she is merciless in her execution. I have to give a shout out to stunt coordinator Dmytro Rudyi and fight choreographer Pavel Avilov for giving us one sensationally bloody ballet of death with McNamara more than game and she is clearly having fun performing all of this on screen and showing the effects of her training regimen. I’m not gonna lie, I rewound the scene and watched it again just to make sure I saw what I saw.
Overall, Air Force One Down is littered with cliches, and a twist plugged betrayal that you’ll see coming out of left field from a mile away, but I forgave all that because this movie was for better than it should have been. I was expecting absolutely nothing but what I got was a sleeper hit in my eyes with Katherine McNamara announcing herself as one serious contender for top female action star. She has the looks, the sass, the attitude and the moves to make this type of genre her bitch if she wants to and the action scenes are a cut above what you see in most Hollywood blockbusters with three times the budget. It’s unfortunate that this film will be passed up by most serious fans as I almost did but if you give it a shot like I did, you might find yourself doing a double take when the hyper-kinetic mayhem takes over. The choreography has an 87Eleven tinge to it and that’s the highest praise I can give it as they are the hottest action design team doing it in the business today. Job well down Ms. McNamara. You have my full attention.
VERDICT: 3.5 Out of 5 Stars
Air Force One Down Comes Out of Nowhere to Deliver an Adrenaline Shot of Brutal Fight Sequences and a New Action Star in Katherine McNamara.
