Action and Thought Go Into Verdict on ‘Executive Decision’

It sounds like an action picture and looks like an action picture. It even briefly features action hero Steven Seagal, as an Army SWAT leader, until the fates dispatch him.

But as it turns out, “Executive Decision” is more of a thinking kid’s suspense thriller, with fewer fireballs and semiautomatic, blood-spattered, brainless wipeouts than many have come to expect from the genre.

Not to say it doesn’t earn its R rating. The movie kicks off with the SWAT team surprising Chechen soldiers--who are casually raping a woman in the midst of a party--and machine-gunning them all down. It winds up with the mayhem that would naturally occur when any novice tries to land a 747 at a small airport, at night, with a flight attendant reading instructions from a flight manual.

But sandwiched in between were enough tension, technical puzzles and special visual and audio effects to keep most kids hooked. The outcome may be certain, but it’s still fun to see how they resolve all the plot elements: Will the special forces be able to secretly board the 747 with a jet-to-jet maneuver? How will they let the U.S. officials know they’re on board? Can they defuse the bomb attached to the nerve gas and booby-trapped with laser beams? And what about the ambitious senator on board who sees political mileage in negotiating with the terrorists?

Kelly Wargo, 13, of Lake Forest was only slightly disappointed. “There wasn’t as much action as I thought there would be,” he said. But while Kelly gave the movie an overall B-plus, his brothers Erik, 15, and Kirk, 14, and friend Cameron Rice, 14, gave it an A.

“I thought it was pretty cool. It made you think,” Erik said.

Kirk said there was action aplenty for him. “It was very explosive,” he said. His favorite scenes showed the technical details of the experimental stealth craft attaching itself to the underbelly of the 747 and the delicate defusing of the bomb.

Cameron said he appreciated the comic relief provided by an injured task force soldier who kept passing out and then waking up again to announce: “Whatever you do, don’t cut that wire.”

(Some of the audience got unintended laughs out of watching Marla Maples Trump trying to act like a frightened stewardess.)

While Russell poses no threat to Stallone, Schwarzenegger or Van Damme, the boys said he was acceptable as a reluctant and mild-mannered action hero caught up in the events.

But all things considered, they said they wished the iron-faced Seagal had hung around a little longer.