Not a minute is wasted in this movie. As soon as it starts, it leaps right into the action, keeping you there until it's all over. The story follows Captain Riley Hale (Christian Slater), a USAF pilot who's in for life, and Major Vic Deakins (John Travolta), a cunning USAF pilot who feels he isn't getting the power he deserves. Deakins decides to steal two 83-kiloton nuclear warheads from the stealth bomber him and Hale are flying, and Hale isn't about to let him. With help from an unsuspecting park ranger, Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis), Hale does everything possible to prevent Deakins from using the nuclear weapons.
This movie is rounded out quite well. The story line is simple, and makes perfect sense, and it doesn't need much to hold it together. The chemistry between Samantha Mathis and Christian Slater is quite good, and John Travolta easily plays his part as a clever, seasoned (ex-)military officer.
But of course, it isn't all that great. The military officers trying to find Deakins (basically, the entire US Air Force) are completely incompetent. Only Hale seems to be able to figure it all out. Admittingly, this might be because Deakins was Hale's best friend, and he knows how he thinks. Still, there were some remarkably stupid things done by the soldiers. And there was much too much killing. Not too graphic, unless you count a man getting his chest turned into gumbo by helicopter blades, or a man getting his throat crushed by a lead pipe. And of course, numerous shots are fired, killing a few dozen men, but you don't see much more than blood splatters. The classic ammunition problem. i.e. A six-gun has three shots left, and manages to squeeze off six later, or a 15-round clip manages to squeeze out 17 shots.
One last beef. Deakins tries to get rid of Hale while they are flying. Deakins decides to shoot Hale in the head with his personal sidearm. Personally, a tranqulizer injected in the arm would have been better. Deakins could have crashed the plane, making it look more easily like an accident. That would have shortened the movie drastically, though.
Aside from that, the movie moves nicely, and you'll love it to the end. It's worth seeing once, if not twice, or three times. Consider adding it to your video library.