Executive Decision

Name: Executive Decision
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Released: March 15, 1996
Duration: 133 min
Rating: 62
Cast: BD Wong, David Suchet, Halle Berry, Joe Morton, John Leguizamo

1996

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Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critics

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Executive Decision

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. | Release Date: March 15, 1996

Starring: BD Wong, David Suchet, Halle Berry, Joe Morton, John Leguizamo, Kurt Russell, Len Cariou, Oliver Platt, Steven Seagal, Whip Hubley

Summary: When terrorists seize control of an airliner, an intelligence analyst accompanies a commando unit for a midair boarding operation.

Director: Stuart Baird

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 133 min

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Awards & Rankings

47	#47 Best Movie of 1996

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Critic Reviews

Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan

Everything about Executive Decision is familiar except how crisply its conventional story is executed. Since most action thrillers think blowing things up is enough to attract an audience, it's a nice surprise to come across a savvy piece of work that relies on suspense and is as professional as the elite anti-terrorist unit it celebrates. Read full review

Washington Post - Richard Harrington

Writers Jim and John Thomas and first-time director Stuart Baird have come up with a surprisingly deft variation on the airplane hijack genre, one that relies on subterfuge and suspense rather than explosives and body counts even though Steven Seagal is in it. Read full review

Chicago Tribune - Gene Siskel

I think what I like most about Executive Decision is that director Baird constantly tries to top himself. A more experienced director would have ended the film a few crises earlier. But Baird goes for broke in his directing debut, and the result is a most entertaining movie. Read full review

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Mark Rinaldi

Executive Decision sticks to the action at hand, and except for some rather long and claustrophobic moments, offers up the required amount of impossible-to-believe but satisfyingly tense moments. [15 Mar 1996, p.3E]

Philadelphia Inquirer - Desmond Ryan

Baird is a highly regarded editor of action films, and his debut as a director shows a sharp eye for the tensions and angles in individual scenes. But his grasp of pace is less certain, and it exposes the movie's more outlandish developments. [15 Mar 1996, p.03]

Empire - Ian Nathan

The acting is all first base, the script a laughable stream of gung ho-isms, the action merely solid and the effects indifferent. Yet, you still stroll out with a grin a mile wide. Read full review

San Francisco Chronicle - Mick LaSalle

Unfortunately, Stuart Baird's direction is so sluggish and Jim and John Thomas' script so padded that Executive Decision has no build. Instead of focusing on the mechanics of suspense, the film concentrates to a boyish extent on mechanics, period. Read full review

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