Factual error: The plastic explosive used on the cockpit door was C-4. When shot (as shown), C-4 does not explode; it requires the use of a detonator.
Air Force One (1997)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford, Glenn Close
President James Marshall boards the Air Force One with all of his trusted advisors and family, shortly after reciting a speech in Moscow making a promise to never negotiate with terrorists. A group of malicious terrorists hack the security system and board the plane with the desire to kill the president. Led by Ivan Korshunov, the group hijacks the flight appraising the President's principles. Desuminating escape, the president stays on board as a stowaway, and must take quick wise actions to get the plane back in control and rescue his family and everyone else on board. The Communist Radicals threaten all the people on board and keep them as captives. The terrorists want to release their master who is in jail in a different country. The Vice President negotiates from Washington D.C, while the President, a Veteran, fights to rescue the hostages on board, but they have to work against time. Since, the terrorists plan to sacrifice an individual every 30 minutes until their wish comes true. Having been lied to that they were never going to be released from captivity, President Marshall (Harrison Ford) breaks free and jumps one of the gunmen guarding the other prisoners. In the ensuing chaos, the President manages to kill the other guards but Gary Oldman takes the First Lady as hostages and as he attempts to escape the plan with the last of the parachutes, she creates a distraction and Marshall tells him to get off his place, and he does. Marshall then quickly tells the Russians to take down Raddick and he is shot down by the prison guards. After retaking control of the plan, MIGs try to intercept the plan later on. US fighter planes eventually come to their rescue but Air Force One becomes too damaged to fly. So an Air Force cargo plane tries to take each remaining passenger off the plane but when it come to the point where they can only take one more (due to low altitude), Gibbs (the traitor SS agent) shoots one of the guys and in the struggle between Marshall and Gibbs, Marshall barely hangs on to the rope just as the plan goes down with Gibbs. Marshall is helped onboard the cargo plane and the President is safe.
NCTanti
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Suggested correction: You can see him applying a detonator prior to him shooting it.
If he applied a blasting cap (detonator) he should have used it then. Just putting a detonator into C-4 doesn't all the sudden make it vulnerable to being shot, he would have to actually hit the blasting cap's wire, which is about 5mm thick and relatively short (and it would have to be one that's sensitive to gunfire). Not a very probable shot, even less so when he doesn't even look when he shoots.
President James Marshall: I trusted you with my life!
Agent Gibbs: So will the next president!
Trivia: The exterior of the Russian prison is really the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. It has been chosen for several movies because of its gothic, eerie appearance, most notably "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994).
Question: Can someone who knows a bit about airplanes and such tell me if it's really possible to rescue people from a plane the way they do it in the end of the movie. To me it seems nearly impossible, is it?
Answer: Mid-air transfers between planes have been done - insane stuntmen have crossed between planes simply by walking from wing to wing in the past. While it takes considerable skill and more guts than your average slaughterhouse, this sort of thing is possible, yes.
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