Old action movies are never too far from the top of the charts on free streaming platforms, and Kurt Russell’s 1996 action-thriller Executive Decision has found new success on Tubi. The by-the-numbers suspense movie, which sees Russell as an intelligence analyst joining forces with Steven Seagal’s military colonel to take on a group of terrorists who hijack a plane carrying a deadly chemical weapon. The ‘90s box office hit was not a unanimous success with audiences and critics, but sometimes it really doesn’t matter.
Executive Decision featured an incredible all-star cast, with Russell and Seagal being joined by Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt, B.D. Wong, and the impeccable David Suchet, who played hijacker Nagi Hassan. The story is certainly not unique, but the cast proved to me more than capable of making the old tropes work just enough to keep viewers entertained and on the edge of their seat. The film was directed by Stuart Baird, who helmed only three movies in his career – the others being the 1998 sequel to The Fugitive, U.S. Marshals, and 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis – and ended up being his highest rated movie.
The movie earned $121 million at the global box office against a $55 million budget, which for an action movie of the time was a good return, and its 62% Rotten Tomatoes score was certainly not to be sniffed at. Although the movie did receive some criticism for its predictable plot, Russell’s performance as the unlikely hero was more than enough to sustain the film, especially with Seagal’s character meeting a shocking early demise, and Russell continued to showcase his versatility as an actor.
Kurt Russell Has Become a Hollywood Icon
Kurt Russell was not always the action star he became thanks to movies such as Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China. Russell began his career with a ten-year contract with Disney, which saw him star in a series of sci-fi comedies about a science student who discovers the secret to becoming invisible, including Now You See Him, Now You Don’t and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes.
Once he found his footing as a star who could deliver as the lead in blockbuster action movies, Russell’s resume began to grow dramatically, and he found his name being frequently mentioned alongside other ‘80s action icons such as Stallone and Schwarzenegger.
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Recently, Russell has branched out in even more ways. He has appeared in huge franchise movies such as the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, three Fast & Furious movies, and Netflix’s festive hits The Christmas Chronicles and The Christmas Chronicles 2 – in which he played a modern version of Santa Claus – and last year he appeared as the older version of Lee Shaw in Legendary’s MonsterVerse series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters on Apple TV+. Next, Russell will be lending his voice to an undisclosed character in Paramount’s The Smurfs Movie.