Air Force One(1997)
Submitted by Julio M
Oscar Nominee : Best Editing, Best Sound.
Short pooper:
President Marshall (Harrison Ford) kills Korshunov (Gary Oldman) and a bunch of his henchmen. However, later on, the real surprise is that, as everyone is vacating the doomed-to-crash Air Force One, Secret Service Agent Gibbs (Xander Berkeley) turns out to be the mole who enabled the whole hijacking attempt. He kills Major Caldwell (William H. Macy) but does not escape the plane and gets killed as it crashes into the Caspian Sea. The President, his family and many others survive in the end.
Longer version:
After President Marshall manages to kill lead hijacker Egor Korshunov -and literally toss him off the plane, tied up to a parachute-, as well as many other of his henchmen, he orders, in the nick of time, to reverse the order that was to release General Radek (Jürgen Prochnow). As a result, Radek is deserted as he was getting ready to board a plane away from the prison and shot dead by the Special Forces’ Agents.
After this, Marshall and Major Caldwell work together to bring the Air Force One back to a safe airspace, but another entourage of enemy airplanes loyal to Radek pursue and engage in firing at it. Despite F-15s assisting against the enemy and knocking them down, they cause severe damage to Air Force One’s fuel tanks, engines and tail, after which the plane forcefully loses altitude and it is determined that it will not recover.
A Lockheed from the Air Force, callsigned “Liberty 24”, is summoned to provide emergency assistance in evacuating everyone from the ill-fated Air Force One while it is still possible. Pararescuers are hoisted through a tethered line set up between both planes, in order to bring everyone up to Liberty 24, one at a time. Marshall selflessly orders that everyone else, including Chief of Staff Shepherd (Paul Guilfoyle) -who was still alive, but badly injured- is brought up to Liberty 24 first.
Air Force One comes to fly dangerously close to the Caspian Sea below, at which point there will only be the chance to tether off one more person to safety and there are three left on board: Marshall, Caldwell and Agent Gibbs. Once again, Marshall is willing to sacrifice himself in order to see either of the other two men rescued and the parajumper insists he must follow orders to prioritize saving the President. Suddenly, Gibbs pulls a gun, revealing himself to be the traitor who allowed Korshunov and Company to board Air Force One at the beginning of the film.
Gibbs shoots both Caldwell and the parajumper -who gets suctioned off the plane- dead. With Liberty 24 urging anyone still alive to hook themselves up to the tether, as the inoperable Air Force One is seconds away from crashing, Marshall and Gibbs fight to catch the tether to safety. Eventually, Marshall gets the upper hand and, at the very last second possible, he hooks up and, when the harness attached to the plane’s gate breaks off, he bursts off the plane while the soldiers at Liberty 24 quickly reel him up.
A dumbfounded and wounded Gibbs is left behind, screaming for help as the plane violently touches water, shatters and sinks, killing him. Once everyone is safely on board Liberty 24, the entire Presidential staff and Cabinet back at the White House -including Vicepresident Bennett (Glenn Close)- are radioed back, much to their delight and cheer, that President Marshall and his family are safe and sound, and “the callsign of Liberty 24 is now officially upgraded to Air Force One”.