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6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Going down fast..., 2 October 2004
Author: Joe (noothergod) from Deerfield, MA

There is not one category in which I can rate this movie positively... but I'll try anyway.

Plot: Nope. Other posters have beaten this one to death.

Military accuracy: My ROTC friend kept screaming that the Special Forces guys were using the wrong guns. He also tells me that the Navy doesn't use F-16s. I'll take his word on all that. I was annoyed at the clumsy way in which the alleged elite troops crouch-walked towards the hostile gunmen near the airport. Also, the fact that a White House fund raiser was authorized to make decisions involving missile strikes on civilians rather bothered me.

Physical accuracy: This just totally lost me. The plane didn't depressurize, nor did oxygen masks deploy, when the window blew out (a good half hour after it was shot, mind you). The CGI plane kept pitching and yawing at angles that can't happen. The shooters would frequently aim at other things (like the floor), yet their targets would fall back, shot in places only a magic bullet could reach. The list goes on.

Acting: Ha. The generic terrorists, who spoke perfectly articulated English, were so boring in their desires that I often wondered why they were even bothering. The "scared passengers" were more annoyed than anything, which made their presence annoying to the viewers. And Mr. Shirtless Dean Cain Wannabe was just sad.

Fight sequences: Competent stage acting, better than some films I've seen, but in no way what you'd call "good."

Plane realities: All wrong. I like how the pilot was from the school of flying that teaches top speed landings, without wing flaps, and while pointing the nose down. The internal layout of the plane did not come close to matching the external CGI shell. The hurricane-sized storm they fly through takes all of a minute and a half to get through. The speed at which they are tracked on the map (using a transponder that was shut off) is ludicrously fast. And I'm sorry, but the ability to land a prop lane in an IMac flight simulator should not convey any skill to pilot a commercial jet.

Sequels: Okay, so this is the one area that I can say something good. There is no sequel to Air Marshal. However, there are other films in the American Heroes series to which Air Marshal belongs.

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6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Looks like a cheap episode of Super Carrier...on a plane., 22 September 2003
1/10
Author: Jamie from USA

"Air Marshal" (2003) is one of those movies that, while you're watching it, you get the sinking feeling that the $500,000 budget it had could've gone to feed children in Appalachia. The acting is amateur, the direction and cinematography is lacking, and the special effects are pre-Super Nintendo. Seriously...you can find better playing Spy Hunter.

Dean Cochran, who plays the typical pretty-boy hero "Brett Prescott", does little more than flash a toothy smile and take off his shirt when the moment allows. The terrorist characters, while attempting to hijack a plane and crash for cash (instead of "Paradise"), play on old racial stereotypes that would only make the simplest rubes growl in anger. What's bad enough is that a senator on board the plane has the audacity to say "Let's Roll" once it looks as if the good guys could take the hijacked plane back from enemy hands. What a crock.

"Air Marshal" is perhaps the first, unabashed attempt I've seen at a movie exploiting the events of 9/11. It gave the term "terrorsploitation" a defintion. Avoid this one...it is cheap cinema all the way.

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6 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
I can't believe I watched the WHOLE Thing!!, 28 December 2003
Author: Wayne (wayno25) from Yarmouth, Maine

My first clue should have been when I saw the opening scene graphics....LYBIA!? Just where is that? You have so-called "special forces" teams that don't secure their terrorist captives, who run into a terrorist stronghold with no idea of how to get back out and who leave when the job's half done! I, as a former US Navy SEAL, am outraged. Whatever happened to the concept of "technical assistance" (and, for that matter, continuity). This movie gives new meaning to the term "disaster film". Where did scarface, the Mexican computer genius, come from. After 2 years his face still hadn't healed? I particularly liked the scene where the flight crew are engaging in banter in some country in "Eastern Europe"...right, one where the buildings have Greek lettering on them. And the plane, boss...the plane! According to electronic map, the transponder (which was turned off, I believe) showed that they were crossing Italy at a speed approaching 3500 mph. And while we're on that subject, it would have been nice to have a shot of a REAL plane in flight and REAL scenery instead of 57 minutes of MS Flight Simulator 2003 graphics. I hope Bill Gates got his money up front and didn't have to wait for box office receipts. I really think that the Director and Producer of this monumental tribute to video trash should be heavily fined and sent to bed without supper. Try as I might, I can find no connection between the opening scenes and the rest of the movie. Does the Writer or Director have ANY idea of the Chain of Command that flows downward from the President? Do they honestly think that a pre-pubescent, squeaky-voiced "suit" can order a military strike on a civilian target in a sovereign nation? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? Please, stop them before they make another movie.

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7 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Pretty bad, 25 August 2005
2/10
Author: d3-1 from Hong Kong

If you like fake Hollywood cookie-cutter movies, this is the film to beat. Despite being overtly explicit with its support of racial profiling and portraying Muslim Arabs as terrorists and big hunky white guys as heroes, the plot line is overly-predictable and the characters shallow and annoying. The acting isn't bad, nothing too amateurish though. Certainly written in the post 9-11 heyday, continuing the Hollywood stance of marginalizing targeted branded minorities of the sorts done in Air Force One and True Lies. Also, the camera shakes throughout the movie, simulating the plane flying through air - gets annoying.

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4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Takes the Cake, 19 August 2005
1/10
Author: jpc1012 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Air Marshal is one of the most pathetic and disgraceful pieces of work ever done since the dawn of civilization. I can not imagine any of the people involved being able to go home and look at themselves in the mirror and believe that they earned an honest days work. Lets start from the beginning, some of the worst possible acting that has ever occurred on the face of the planet. The corny lines, where "BRETT PRESCOTT" tried to be funny, are absolutely the biggest farce in the world. Um, next would be the plot. Completely terrible, difficult to follow considering there is not logical sequence, and it down right sucks. Lybia, I believe is spelled Libya, but hey, Who's counting? These special forces are rebels without a clue. The hand signals that BRETT uses really show how great of a leader he is. Then they raid the building, and have a stare down for a while. Then they finally decide to shoot, and they don't hold back one bit. They pepper the place pretty good leaving nothing behind. Then when exiting the building, instead of leaving out the front door, they decide to bomb through a stone wall, in genius. Last of all, they fail the mission by letting the hostage kill himself. Great job guys!!! Finally this takes us to the plane. Was it me, or did the constant touching of the little boy by everyone, kinda make you cringe. Anyways, I'm not sure how many times that I counted PRESCOTT getting his ass beat, getting his gun taken away, getting passengers shot and killed, and basically screwing up. Speaking of people getting killed, did anyone notice as soon as someone got the slightest flesh wound, they would instantly die ex... the pilot, the terrorist with the hatchet that barely nicked his back. These terrorists were real smart cookies. They had numerous times to kill PRESCOTT, but no they don't. Instead they kill the biggest threat, the guy with the phone and of course the Buddhist. Wow good choices. The intel guys in DC really kept their composure well. I feel so much safer since 9/11 when dingleberries like that make decisions that affect our national security. Then that brings us to the HIspanic partners in all of this. Um...WHO THE HELL WERE THEY??????? Oh well, no explanation. Then the Senator, who by the way was apparently butt buddies with the president, decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and said "Lets Roll." Galliant effort, as one flesh wound completely halted their lackluster efforts. Great job guys. Way to take one for your country. Finally, the kid who decided to stroll up to the cockpit, which was okay by the way, helped land the plane. Hmmm. when the movie ended wasn't their still one terrorist still on the plane that was unaccounted for??? Ahh who cares anyway, PRESCOTT did his country proud. One of the worst movies in history, but funny enough, I've enjoyed making fun of it so much, I guess you could consider it entertaining after all. Thanks for reading this.

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3 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
It ain't Air Force One, it's more like Airplane., 23 June 2003
1/10
Author: uneonmaid from Los Angeles, CA

Pretty lame excuse for a thriller. This is one of those films where you spot fake accents, spot continuity gaffes and watch bad acting and corny lines. Working like Bruckheimer with no money, Air Marshal struggles to do too much with too little. The real question is, why do low-budget filmmakers try to make huge action pictures that they can't possibly afford the effects and actors for? Why not make a talking heads movie with ideas and art involved? I guess that would be asking too much.

This will never open in theaters, so go to a video store and dig around in a few years, you'll find it there.

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0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
I haven't seen anything worse than this, 15 March 2008
1/10
Author: bart-301 from Netherlands

Okay now, I've read all the other commentaries here on IMDb, and I can conclude that all positive reviews come from people in the US (who appear to think that ANY movie concerning killing Arab-types can't be a bad movie) and/or women that squirm by the sight of this joke of a lead, this Prescott-figure.

People, this movie sucks. I hope they stored it in a safe place, because of you'd leave this movie uncovered in an open field, it would create a black hole. Honestly.

The acting... WHAT acting? The special effects... Did they use MS-PAINT to make that "plane"? - The inaccuracy where it comes to armed forces, procedures, flying an airplane... The crew on this movie could not even portray someone blinking, even if they tried hard.

Too bad you can't vote for NO stars whatsoever.

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3 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Truly Awful, 25 September 2003
2/10
Author: NIXFLIX-DOT-COM from www.nixflix.com

AIR MARSHAL is one of those movies that not only insults your intelligence, but it dares you to care. Not only does the screenplay play on 9/11, even having a character use the line "Let's roll", but I have not seen this much plot contrivances in a long, long time. Truly an awful movie, only saved (if you can call it that) by its audacity to be exploitative, stupid, and at the same time, convoluted up to a point where you just have to shake your head in dismay.

And would someone please tell B-movie filmmakers to stop using cheap-looking CGI models? If they can't afford actual props, shouldn't they steer their screenplays AWAY from films that requires them?

There are bad movies and then there are bad movies. AIR MARSHAL is just...bad.

2 out of 10

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this film)

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0 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Executive Decision RIPOFF, 23 August 2005
3/10
Author: KHayes666 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

You would think if they were going to ripoff a movie, they should at least do it right. But after 9/11, maybe this type of movie wasn't the best idea.

The story is retired special forces ace Brett Prescott is now a US Air Marshall and catches a flight home to see his pregnant wife. On the way the plane is hijacked by Muslim terrorists.....if you've seen Exectuve Decision you know the drill. He eliminates the terrorists one by one and saves the day.

What astounded me was the number of ripoffs. Same US senator on board, same kamikaze Muslim, same special forces at the beginning of the movie. Plus the special effects were about as special as a glass of water. Either way the writers of this movie have all the creativity of a xerox machine. It has some flashes of hilarity and action (a spinebuster) but its overall a ripoff.

The highlight of the movie is when Luke gets freaked out when he realizes Brett is still alive and the guy tells him "SIT DOWN!" in a really high pitched voice.

3 out of 10

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1 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Phew! (Possible Minor Spoiler), 25 January 2004
Author: The_Patient from Victoria, B.C. Canada

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

It's great to see that using a flight simulator PC game enables a small kid to control a high-tech, partially crippled jet airliner in real life. Imagine how much more secure I'll feel next time I fly!

Also: if any airliner shook that much for the entire flight, I'd be thinking about NEVER flying on one of those planes again. Or did the cameraperson have some sort of nervous twitch? =)

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