Gary Oldman has spent much of his career playing characters who are either intelligent, unhinged, or flatulent. He can often perform a masterclass of appearing to be what looks like the smartest man in the room and also the smelliest. What a talent that is. Audiences these days know him as the phantom farter in Slow Horses, but nearly 30 years ago, Oldman was making life miserable for a very different kind of government official.
This time, he had Harrison Ford stressing like hell and that movie is Air Force One, the 1997 action thriller directed by Wolfgang Petersen, which is now streaming on Netflix. The movie became a huge commercial success when it first arrived in theaters, earning approximately $315.2 million worldwide against a reported $85 million production budget.
The film sees President James Marshall (Ford) on his way home, just trying to catch up on some recorded sports action after a successful sojourn to Russia where his big speech has been hailed a great success. It would, therefore, be a real shame if his plane were to be hijacked by a gang of terrorists, led by the craziest man alive (Oldman, naturally). It’s a very straightforward premise, but the leading duo are just so utterly magnetic that it elevates the entire thing into the territory of iconic action cinema.
The cast is led by Ford (Indiana Jones) and Oldman (Slow Horses) as Ivan Korshunov, alongside Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction) as Vice President Kathryn Bennett, Wendy Crewson (The Santa Clause) as Grace Marshall, Liesel Matthews (A Little Princess) as Alice Marshall, William H. Macy (Fargo) as Major Norman Caldwell, Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap) as Defense Secretary Walter Dean, and Xander Berkeley (24) as Secret Service agent Gibbs.
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Collider · Action Heroes Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Ten questions · five legends · one partner
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive: with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably should not work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back. Choose your channel
Rambo
James Bond
Indiana Jones
John McClane
Ethan Hunt
Partner assignedYour perfect partner is
Olive channel locked
Rambo The 1982 original You will never need to ask whether he has your back. You will just know.
Your partner does not talk much, does not need to, and will have counted every threat around you before you finish your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics. He is a force shaped by survival, loyalty and an endurance that no amount of training produces on its own. He does not leave people behind. What you get is the most quietly ferocious partner imaginable, somebody who went through what would have broken anybody else and decided to keep going. Why he is your partner
He reads ground the way other people read a room.
He will stand between you and the worst of it without discussing it.
He says almost nothing, and never the wrong thing.
From the Collider file
The 1982 original came from David Morrell’s 1972 novel, which ends very differently.
Stallone cut most of his own dialogue in the edit to make the character nearly silent.
Five films across thirty-seven years, from 1982 to the fifth in 2019.
Says little Leaves nobody Built to endure
Gold channel locked
James Bond Dr. No, 1962 He has survived things that have no business being survivable, and he does it with style.
Your partner arrives perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story convincing enough that you will need a moment to recall what is true. Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he walks into and the most disarmingly charming, which is the whole point. He works in layers, where nothing is what it looks like and every advantage gets used without apology. You will never be bored. You will occasionally be furious. Why he is your partner
He is better in the room than he is on paper, and he is excellent on paper.
He will not explain the plan, and the plan will work.
He treats charm as a tool, and it is a remarkably effective one.
From the Collider file
Eon has made twenty-five Bond films since Dr. No in 1962, across six actors.
Denis Villeneuve is directing the next one for Amazon MGM, which took creative control in
2025.
The search for the new 007 was still running through 2026, with screen tests under way.
Charm as a tool Always briefed Unbothered
Tan channel locked
Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981 A scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual pairing and a very effective one.
Your partner knows the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is the most important object in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless and occasionally impossible, and also one of the most genuinely resourceful people you could have beside you. He hates snakes and gets attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It will not matter. Why he is your partner
He has read the thing nobody else thought to read.
He will risk the whole plan for the artifact, and be right about half the time.
He improvises better than most people prepare.
From the Collider file
The Cairo swordsman scene was improvised on the day because Harrison Ford had dysentery.
Raiders was filmed in about 73 days, which was fast even in 1981.
Dial of Destiny in 2023 was Ford’s fifth and last outing, at the age of eighty.
Knows the history Reckless scholar Improviser
Red channel locked
John McClane Die Hard, 1988 His superpower is stubbornness and his contingency plan is improvisation.
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything resembling the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and a flat refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it plainly is. John McClane is the great accidental hero of action cinema, a man whose capacity to absorb more than anybody should and keep going would be alarming if it were not so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will come through. Why he is your partner
He turns whatever is in the room to his advantage.
He is funniest when things are at their worst.
He has never once agreed that it is over.
From the Collider file
Die Hard came from Roderick Thorp’s novel Nothing Lasts Forever, a sequel to a book
filmed in 1968.
Nakatomi Plaza is Fox Plaza, which was the studio’s own headquarters at the time.
Bruce Willis was a television comedy actor then, and a long way down the casting list.
Pure stubbornness Improvises Complains throughout
Blue channel locked
Ethan Hunt Mission: Impossible, 1996 The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
Your partner has run seventeen scenarios before you finished the briefing, and the one he settled on involves at least two things that should not be physically possible. Ethan Hunt works at the outer edge of human capability, technically and physically, and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organizations that should not exist. He is not easy to know and he will never tell you everything. He will carry the weight anyway. Why he is your partner
He takes the risk himself rather than assigning it.
He is three moves ahead and will not say which three.
He treats your survival as the actual objective.
From the Collider file
Cruise hung off the side of an Airbus A400M at a thousand feet for the opening of Rogue
Nation.
The HALO jump in Fallout took 106 takes, filmed at dusk for the light.
The Final Reckoning in 2025 was the eighth film, and was sold as the last.
Takes the risk Never explains Finishes it
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Was ‘Air Force One’ a Success?
Air Force One began its opening weekend with $37.1 million domestically before finishing its North American run with $173 million, while overseas audiences contributed another $142.2 million, bringing its worldwide total to approximately $315.2 million. The movie holds a 78% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside a 66% audience score, with particular praise going to Ford’s commanding performance and Oldman’s wonderfully over-the-top villain. And over-the-top is probably the best compliment you can give him, because he is demented in this film and it works so well.
