Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Air Blu-ray Movie Review

"Come on Cohaagen. You've got what you want. Give these people Norman Reedus and Djimon Hounsou!"

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 7, 2015

The world is going to go bad one of these days. Real bad. The wrong person will have their finger on the right trigger and...*poof.* Everything will be gone. Most probably won't see it coming or even realize it happened, and the unfortunate few who survive are going to be tasked with living the most unlivable existence in human history. And if some great prognosticator, or someone with some common sense, can foresee it coming, maybe a handful will be tucked away in a "safe place" to continue on, armed with whatever resources are deemed necessary to propagate and rebuild. Or maybe they'll just be crammed in a concrete vault with little care paid to their future. Such is the story of Air, essentially a tale of two people surviving in some underground shelter and in a world that's like some evil combination of the underground station from Lost meets the grimy confines seen in The Divide meets the government-built shelters from the Fallout video games. In that sense, and in every sense, really, the movie isn't particularly novel or gripping, but it's a satisfying character portrait of isolation, uncertainty, and all of the other psychological dilemmas that come with being hopelessly trapped in a dead world where a concrete shelter, some freeze-dried food, a prerecorded baseball game, and sleep are all one has to look forward to.

"It's just us..."

It has been some time since the world was left uninhabitable following the use of a deadly new weapon. The population has been wiped away and the surface left in perpetual ruin. Underground, several survivors, placed by the government in old shelters to save a few lives, wake every now and then to maintain the system. Two such men in living in one such bunker awaken on a day that turns out to be unlike their others. Bauer (Norman Reedus) and Cartwright (Djimon Hounsou) find their routine upset when the latter's hibernation chamber is destroyed by fire. They're forced to seek out a replacement and, ultimately, test themselves, their humanity, and fate as things spiral out of control in their confined, closed-off little corner of dystopia.

Air prominently advertises Robert Kirkman's involvement and makes sure to let audiences know he's the man behind The Walking Dead. The film also stars Norman Reedus, who plays one of the main characters in AMC's smash hit, and it also features a two-time Oscar nominee in Djimon Hounsou. Air is certainly not without a substantial pedigree behind it, but it plays like a pet project and never much elevates beyond that. The film follows standard genre permutations as it explores more the mental state of the characters and less their physical constraints. Those psychological points of interest include hallucinations and visions, a growing detachment from reality and a moral center, and a sense of claustrophobia that's more immediately obvious on the outside but that the audience can practically feel chocking off the characters from the inside. But the film explores all of this subtly and gradually, not overtly, which helps to better define all of it, even as Abby's (Sandrine Holt) physical manifestation dominates several key scenes.

Air does benefit from its ability to take a pedestrian, gray-burdened set and create a palpably worrisome environment out of it. It's not even all that utilitarian. It looks like a hastily built basement, which is exactly what it is beyond some of the fancier -- and some very antiquated -- technologies that keep it sealed away, the air circulating, and control key components both inside and in communication with whatever is left of the outside world. With only two -- three if one wants to count a person who is essentially a hallucination -- characters, the set itself becomes something of greater import than a mere background, portraying here not just walls but instead an end-of-the-world sanitarium of sorts that may not be the dominant factor in the men's doings, but certainly a factor. The actors play it well, too, close to the vest and keeping the audience not so much guessing, but uneasy. Both Reedus and Hounsou satisfactorily explore the characters' depths while still maintaining a relatively simple exterior of friendship and acceptance as they go about their business, a business that gets trickier and trickier as time progresses, "accidents" happen, and truths are revealed. They don't bring anything necessarily special to the parts, but both play them well and at least up to the level of complexity -- and perhaps a little more -- that the script demands.

Air Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Air may be the bleakest, gray-dominant movie since The Road. Sony's 1080p transfer revels in visual fatigue, in an image where the only reprieves from the gray and black come from fluorescent lights and the occasional flashlight beam; a few red, blue, and green computer blips; and a red tool chest. The transfer is otherwise agonizingly dreary but precisely so. What details are visible are fine, even as there's a mild sense of softness to the image, a feeling that details are simply devoured by the nearly monochromatic color scheme and shadowy excesses that lurk in every frame. Nevertheless, decently defined facial and clothing features appear, and some of the more roughly textured concrete backgrounds deliver a satisfying look of tactile intimacy. Black levels are critical and rarely stray from normalcy, though some light paleness -- a slight push to gray -- is evident in a few places. Flesh tones are likewise flat but understandably so. Fortunately, the sort of issues that tend to plague cheaper, darker, digital movies -- banding, macroblocking, noise -- aren't problems. It's not exactly a stunner given the source and style, but Sony's transfer carries the film's intended look nicely enough.

Air Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Air's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack thrives on power and subtlety. There's a good weight to the film's open, a deep, practically foreboding rumble that contrasts with some clanky 70s style type and the corresponding crunchy sounds. The track's highlight comes by way of very light background ambience, like a mild, almost inaudible deep hum and minor support details, like computer hard drives spinning and various technological bleeps and bloops dancing around the stage. Dialogue is the sonic centerpiece here, and it enjoys positive clarity and center-focused placement for the duration.

Air Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Air contains a couple of extras.

• An Account of Confinement: Creating Air (1080p, 8:02): A look at core story details, inspirations, characters, the film's aesthetics and set design, photography, and more.
• The Custodians (1080p, 7:10): A closer look at the characters played by Norman Reedus and Djimon Hounsou.
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Air Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Air makes for a decent character study and psychological evaluation, but it's rather constrained -- as much literally as it is figuratively -- and doesn't do much with the options at its disposal. The film primarily suffers from snapshot syndrome, failing to offer a more thorough character examination that might have made their confinement, physical plight, and emotional upheavals all the more meaningful. Instead, the audience is just sort of thrown in with little to build on, which feels like the film's ultimate downfall. Air might have worked better as a TV show or miniseries rather than a 90-minute movie that's too quick and dirty for its own good. It hints at something better but never quite achieves anything truly memorable. Sony's Blu-ray release appears faithful to the source, yielding a deliberately dank 1080p transfer, a solid lossless soundtrack, and a couple of extras. Worth a rental or a buy on an aggressive sale.