Air (2015)
We all know that one person who says they could be writer. The crevice of this plan, loudly echoed across the final hours of a bar after a hefty amount of booze circling around their bloodstreams. But at a point in their life, they had a premise for the “best movie ever” if only they could scrape their bums off their seats to put the plan into motion and it’s a shame they never got around to doing it.
The problem is this. Everyone and their cats has a great idea for film but ideas cannot simply fly free - they need to be honed in, executed, and translated to the audiences well enough to make an impact. This is why before anyone has even been cast, there is years and years of development with the premise going through hundreds before it’s fleshed out.
But clearly, someone dropped the ball when it came to Air. The idea is there but that’s all it has going for it.
Starring Norman Reedus and Djimon Hounsou, Air revolves around a dystopian future where breathable air is literally non-existent. That’s a problem because we kind of need oxygen to live. What are we to do? Well, we don’t. With a chosen through in suspended animation, two engineers are tasked with guarding mankinds last hope as well as preserving their own sanity and survival.
Already in that blurb, you can see the struggles to keep the plot electric and enthralling. Though the notion is such a good though, it lingers in the atmosphere before being blown away completely. There is nothing to keep you invested bar the initial “oooooo” tingling at the back of the DVD until you realise that there are better independent films for you to spend your time watching. This garish film sleepwalks through its thrills whilst collating all the tropes of the poorest of science fiction movies - never developing them at all.
Reedus, most acclaimed for his portrayal of Daryl in The Walking Dead series, plays an equally gruff Bauer who needs a haircut (but clearly cannot due to the aforementioned show,) and the Academy Award nominated Hounsou plays his friend, ally, could be enemy Cartwright. For two impressive actors, it’s surprising that their chemistry is as non-existence as breathable air, gurning their way through the appalling script as though their next dinner relied on it (possibly true.) This garish display of sub-par acting as the premise slurs out of their mouths makes for a rather poor movie indeed.
Air is naff. It’s an ill-advised leap from computer gaming for our director Christian Cantamessa that has little coherency but some genuinely nice set pieces and action sequences. There is something here that I just wish they went over it a little bit more in the development stage - there’d be more bite and would puff a little less hot air. Unfortunately, the lacklustre product suffocates all the good parts of this film.
Air is out on Blu-ray and DVD now!