Air

For a movie called Air, it sure feels tiresomely suffocating. The overall concept is about two men who wake up from stasis sleep to do critical housekeeping on a post-apocalyptic facility. It brings the usual gloomy ambiance and the two actors do possess good acting performance, but the movie is utterly boring. Low on production and very tediously paced, it's almost like a forced prolonged short movie.

Bauer (Norman Reedus) and Cartwright (Djimon Hounsou) work on the ark facility where periodically they would wake up to keep things running. With small cast and setting, the main focus here is the human drama between these two as they troubleshoot any faults in the station while questioning their own sanity.

Plot-wise it's not very complex, there's not much developments or twists, at least not outside the stereotypical sci-fi movies. The back story is told with various clips or narration from both characters, which can feel detached and lackluster at times. Norman Reedus and Djimon Hounsou have decent on-screen presences, however the material is spread too thinly and they struggle to produce any excitement from the barren plot.

That's the main problem of Air, it simply doesn't have enough gas to keep the momentum going. Note that the runtime is the average ninety minutes for a very small scale movie, furthermore it utilizes repetitive themes for filling. It teases the slightly dysfunctional relationship between the two or what mental problem they may have, but these are basic thriller aspects that don't present much thrill in exception of one or two decent scenes.

While the retro 80s futuristic theme can be intriguing and its two leads are capable, most of the movie feels like extended padding. It probably could've done the same with half the runtime, the rest is merely cumbersome trudge over dystopian gig.

Found the sense of isolation, seclusion, possible hallucination (?) and building paranoia immersive as I find them intriguing as themes to begin with; kept me glued.

The sense of "unknowing" is vital in this one since leaves viewers with an unsettled feeling. Hence, I like that this gives only enough context without an all-out explanation as a prelude.

Good story about characters thrown together into circumstances beyond their control and how they handle the unexpected.

I found the pace just right, not too fast and not too slow either. Bottom line, I'd watch it again!

The first feature length sojourn of Skybound, the group behind the universally successful Walking Dead comics, TV show and all subsequent run-offs, Air (featuring TWD's very own Norman Reedus) is an at first engaging and tense low budget Sci-fi that sadly descends down a rabbit hole of increasingly uninteresting and questionable scenarios.

First time director Christian Cantamessa (the man who wrote the fantastic video game Red Dead Redemption) certainly hasn't given himself an easy first feature to win out on with Air's plot almost exclusive focusing on the maintenance workers of Djimon Hounsou's Cartwright and Reedus's Bauer, who like his Daryl in TWD is still in need of a long overdue haircut.

Like any film that sets itself around a confined space and a confined cast, say like a Moon or Buried, Air has to fight to keep viewers' attention almost entirely through things not seen and engaging acting and while Hounsou and Reedus share some form of chemistry it's not enough to carry the film potentially ripe idea to levels that could've made Air a must see Sci-Fi yarn.

The central idea that Air basis's itself around of our air supply being tarnished by a range of natural of man-made causes with humankinds last hope a group of Noah's Ark like underground facilities with pods of long term sleeping humans is an interesting one and whilst familiar in many senses does seem somewhat fresh but Cantamessa and his co-writer Chris Pasetto can't wring enough out of their limited budget supply on top notch dialogue to take the idea to fresh places.

Small moments and a quality opening half make Air something more than a non-event but this is certainly a forgettable start of Skybound's foray into Hollywood movies. Cantamessa seems like a young filmmaker with some talent and it'd be great to see him go on with his efforts here while Reedus is lucky he has Daryl to fall back on and poor old Hounsou is still chasing a role of the same quality he found in Blood Diamond and In America.

2 ½ long past due haircuts out of 5

At last, a believable post apocalyptic tale without endless CGI trying to cover up a lack of plot. Gripping and well paced, claustrophobic and tense, the performances are brilliant. It won't suit those who want endless blam blam action or schoolboy heroics. The music score greatly enhances the feel, but at times the sound has been mixed too loud for the dialogue. Would have been nice if there was some frozen Noah's Ark animals as well. Nevertheless, a great first card in the game. Congrats to all, including the editor. When I saw the really negative review I simply thought: 'this poor person is not very bright'.

If they had fleshed this out and included more details this could have been a more enjoyable movie. As it stands its left wanting. It does have some good scenes but not enough to make it adequate let alone satisfying.