''Strategic Command'' is a 1997 air

hijack Hijack, Highjack, or High Jack may refer to: Film and television * ''Hijack'' (1973 film), an American television action film * ''Hijack!'' (1975 film), a British children's drama film * ''Hijack'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi-language action f ...

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

film directed by

Rick Jacobson Rick Jacobson is an American film director, television director and producer, and stage and television actor. Biography Jacobson graduated from the California Institute of the Arts film and television program. Jacobson's most recent work includ ...

, starring Michael Dudikoff, and co-starring Richard Norton,

Paul Winfield Paul Edward Winfield (May 22, 1939 – March 7, 2004) was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark film '' Sounder'' (1972), whi ...

Bryan Cranston Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor. After taking minor roles in television, he established himself as a leading actor in both comedic and dramatic Bryan Cranston filmography, works on stage and screen. He has received ...

, and

Stephen Quadros Stephen "The Fight Professor" Quadros (born November 9, 1952, in Santa Cruz, California, United States) is an American broadcaster, specializing in play-by-play and color commentary, as well as interviews for the combat sports genre on cable, pay ...

. The film was written by Sean McGinly and Tripp Reed.

Plot

Rick Harding ( Michael Dudikoff) is a former

US Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

officer, now working as

biological weapon Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, toxins and Toxin#Biotoxins, biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,2 ...

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

for the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

. The movie starts, with Harding's lab being infiltrated, which results in terrorists getting their hands on a deadly

nerve agent Nerve agents, sometimes also called nerve gases, are a class of organic chemistry, organic chemicals that disrupt the mechanisms by which nerves transfer messages to organs. The disruption is caused by the blocking of acetylcholinesterase (ACh ...

called Bromax 365. Led by Carlos Gruber ( Richard Norton), the terrorists

Air Force Two Air Force Two is the air traffic control designated call sign held by any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the vice president of the United States, but not the president. The term is often associated with the Boeing C-32, a modified ...

(the aircraft of the

Vice-president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

), a

Boeing VC-25 The Boeing VC-25 is a military version of the Boeing 747 airliner, modified for presidential transport and commonly operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) as ''Air Force One'', the call sign of any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the pr ...

en route from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Harding must participate in a midair effort to retake Air Force Two and save the Vice President and his wife.

Cast

* Michael Dudikoff as Dr. Rick Harding * Amanda Wyss as Michelle Harding * Richard Norton as Carlos Gruber *

as Rowan *

as Vlos *

as Phil Hertzberg

Production and reception

The aircraft pictured in this film features the prototype

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

(in its red and black livery) and the

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a retired long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation. Its nicknames include " Blackbird" and ...

, changes from the original 1996 source film ''

Executive Decision ''Executive Decision'' is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Stuart Baird (in his directorial debut) and written by Jim Thomas and John Thomas, who also produced the film with Joel Silver. It stars Kurt Russell, Steven Seagal, ...

'' which shows an

Oceanic Airlines Oceanic Airlines, and less frequently, Oceanic Airways, is the name of a fictional airline used in several films and television programs—typically works that feature plane crashes and other aviation disasters, with which a real airline would p ...

747 and the

Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is an officially retired American single-seat, subsonic, twin-engined, stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). It was ...

respectively.

References

1997 films American aviation films American action films 1990s English-language films Films directed by Rick Jacobson 1990s American films {{action-thriller-film-stub