13 Movie Moments That Surprised The Hell Out Of The Audience
4. You Killed WHO In The First Act? - Executive Decision
In 1996, when Executive Decision hit theatres, martial arts action star Steven Seagals bankability was starting to decline. Most of what he did in later years wound up direct-to-video, but he was still a name when this film came out. In the films opening, he plays Lt. Col. Austin Travis, the leader of a U.S. Army Special Forces team that failed to recover a stolen Soviet nerve agent and lost one of its men in the process. So hes got a score to settle. In Washington D.C., the nebbish Dr. David Grant (Kurt Russell), a terrorism expert, is informed that a leading terrorist has been captured. Shortly after, an Oceanic Airlines 747 heading for Washington has been hijacked; they demand the release of their leader, however, intel indicates that the plane is really carrying that stolen nerve agent. Travis team boards a modified F-117 Stealth aircraft with Grant tagging along as an observer. The plan is to fly under the plane and attach a sleeve to the 747s cargo hatch, allowing the team to board in secret, but the planes captain alters the course in mid-transfer, causing the sleeve to break, and Travis has time for a last look at Grant before being blown into the atmosphere, falling to his certain death. Wait a minute. Seagal is the badass who is supposed to roundhouse kick all of the terrorists and save the day. Did they really just kill off one of the biggest action stars in Hollywood in the first reel before the action really started? He didnt even get to dispatch any terrorists! This is on the same level as killing off Marion Crane (Vivien Leigh) in Psycho in the first act.
