5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Two custodians who struggle to hold onto their sanity living in an underground bunker with cryogenically frozen people meant to re-populate society.
Starring: Norman Reedus, Djimon Hounsou, Sandrine Holt, David Nykl, Peter Benson (V)Thriller | 100% |
Sci-Fi | 28% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.38:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English, English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
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..."
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'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 contains a couple of extras.
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.
Limited Edition
2007
2008
2008
2014
2013
2007
2008
2011
2007
2011
2018
Director's Cut
2000
Special Edition
1951
Il pianeta degli uomini spenti / Planet of the Lifeless Men
1961
2017
2007
Replacement Disc issued by Paramount
1996
Limited Editon
1981
1971
1971