Executive Decision

Warner Bros. | Release Date: March 15, 1996

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

62	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

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

Leonard Klady

Ultimately, it’s the film’s sly irony that sets it a notch above similar actioners. The Thomas brothers’ script repeatedly draws us down dead-end alleys only to reverse expectations and top white-knuckle situations with thrilling conclusions. Read full review

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

Roger Ebert

It's the kind of thriller where it's fun to chortle over the plot--a movie for people who are sophisticated enough to know how shameless the film is, but fun-loving enough to enjoy its excesses and manic zeal. Read full review

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

Staff (Not Credited)

The escalating tension largely compensates for the lack of character involvement, and the climax will have you reaching for your safety belt. Read full review

Janet Maslin

A good, taut movie for red-meat action audiences, but it's not one you will be seeing on an airliner. Not ever. Read full review

Desson Thomson

If you're looking for satisfying junk food, Executive Decision is exactly the carryout you've been craving. This hijacking suspense drama steals shamelessly from Tom Clancy's kitchen, but it's tautly scripted, loaded with tension and interspersed with great comic relief. Read full review

Joey O'Brian

Just when you're about to give up on this seemingly sorry excuse for an action movie, the picture does an about-face in a matter of minutes, and pushes the tension level way into overdrive and transforms suddenly into a solidly entertaining thriller. Read full review

Jackie Potts

Executive Decision is a gripping, though occasionally overcomplicated, thriller arranged like a Tom Clancy novel. [15 Mar 1996, p.7G]

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]

Lawrence Toppman

Executive Decision, a film as generic as its title, follows its 'subdue the terrorists' template by the numbers - but they're numbers that can work over and over, when handled as competently as they are here by director Stuart Baird. [15 Mar 1996, p.8E]

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]

Christopher Harris

Despite its lapses in credibility, the screenplay does offer both wit and numerous surprise twists, as well as all that non-stop action. And it's a nice change to see an action movie in which the hero, Russell's Grant, isn't some muscle-bound squinter. [15 Mar 1996]

EmpireIan 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

Owen Gleiberman

Such a bluntly impersonal thriller that the title might almost be describing the production honcho who greenlighted yet another Die Hard clone. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

Less a movie than a loud, heavy, money machine, a think tank where nobody thinks. The movie seems intended to extract maximum profit with minimum artistry -- and if you like having your pockets picked by experts, this is probably the show to see. [15 Mar 1996, p.C]

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Competently directed by respected film editor Stuart Baird, it's a glossy production with plenty of Things That Go Boom, courtesy of producer/demolition expert Joel Silver. Read full review

Barbara Shulgasser

This is a Seagal movie without Seagal and a Jack Ryan movie without Jack Ryan. Read full review

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