the audience applauded

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

If this is faithful to the original book, straight to bargain basement. The good guys and bad swing wildly from complete idiots to geniuses. The bad guy second-level boss knows the good guys are coming and is unable a simple fire bomb to kill all the good guys.Bad guys have godlike control over Air Force One so why you want to change the oxygen tanks and risk the mechanic exposing them- you just depressurise- oxygen saves only for a short time. Terrorists leave the US president guarded by one person and the good guys go straight to be captured. Serb, Croats- all sectarian groups are psychos- happy to do mass-killing/terrorism. World's most obvious mine field laid with Hollywood grade mine- ones that give dynamic explosions that fail to kill. Hopeless Special Forces.

I'm sure Cilla Ware had put her effort in making Alistair Maclean's classic novel to life. This novel by Maclean have a very simple, classic storyline. It has a similar plot to the Air Force One starring Harrison Ford, but again, simplified.It all starts with the capture of a Serbian general, his admittance to a highly secured prison, the hijacking (in this film: the crashing) of Air Force One, and the demand to release the general in exchange for the President's life. I personally like the Air Force One better than this, because the way they infiltrated the plane is way better. Maclean only use sleeping gas which were easily slipped on board by some poker faced, unimportant maintenance technician. But then again, Maclean wrote this novel in 1981, not many ideas back then I guess (I prefer Where Eagles Dare, it suits the era better).The cast is good, you'll recognize many faces. It's good to see Emilie de Ravin again, in this movie play a feisty reporter who turns out to be a CIA operative, turns out to be an FSB agent. Yep, that's the plot twist I like the most...The most disappointing thing about this movie is they took many scenes from the Air Force One. I can easily recognize the scene when the plane flying above showing its underside, the scene when the plane lands (with military jeeps running alongside the runway), and when the plane is flying with F16's escort.It's a decent movie to kill your time. Just don't expect much.

The production has precious little to do with the novel other than stealing its name. There is an element of those serials I'd watch as a boy either on early USA TV or on Saturdays at the "kiddie show." Somehow, the heroes and heroine are miraculously saved at the last minute and somehow the cartoonish evil Serb psychopaths never decide to kill them any of them when re-captured for the umpteenth time. There is also the use, quite inexplicably, of archaic flashback to explain how a rescue was carried out. And this is no quality, entertaining Quentin Tarantino flashback, far from it. The movie seems to go on forever with Byzantine sub-plots.The mini-series also dropped a clanger when the victims of a Serb massacre, buried in what is a Bosnian Muslim cemetery, are revealed to have been Croats who are virtually all Roman Catholics, whose psychopathic kin in the Ustasa had murdered Serbs, Jews, Roma between 1941 and 1945.So, why did I give it a 6? Answer: the mini-series movie is worth a 0, but the reminder to a new generation just what dangerous psychopaths these Serbs are, the people who started World War One, is worth a 6.

This is not bad for a TV miniseries. Don't expect too much and you'll have an entertaining few hours. It's got a likable cast. The plot has some cute little twists and turns.A Serbian war criminal (Rupert Graves - why does he keep smiling?) masterminds the downing of Air Force One. He arranges a swap for the President who is played by Linda Hamilton - one of my favorite actresses. Unlike many her age, she hasn't had plastic surgery and it's refreshing. On board is journalist played by feisty Emilie de Ravin (from Once Upon a Time). Jeremy Sisto plays a hero to the rescue with the aid of a British agent in the area.TV miniseries like this have a limited budget but at least this one gives the impression of some location shooting in Europe. Some of the locations are a bit repeated like the ruined castle but that's okay. Others are clearly just aerial shots or composites but it's fine.There isn't quite enough story for 3 hours. A 2 hour movie would have been sufficient. The first half is better - keeps you guessing. The second half has some fillers and too many last minute rescues. Why didn't the bad guys just shoot them straight away? Some of the banter is lame.Overall worth a watch.