Air Collision Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Air Collision Blu-ray Movie Review

Best enjoyed with Twinkies.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 3, 2012

Worst case scenario.

For a flick made by the good people at The Asylum, Air Collision isn't half bad. It's slow, its special effects are borderline laughable, and there's little energy, but it's kinda fun in a nearly perverse sort of way. The highlight: it features Die Hard's Reginald VelJohnson. Sadly, no cars are turned into Swiss Cheese and there's not a Twinkie in sight, so make sure to grab a box before watching. All of that sugar, enriched flour, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, polysorbate 60, and yellow dye number 5 will come in handy when trying to force down a dosage of this latest low-rent "Thriller" that features satellites plummeting to Earth like missiles, a haywire computer, a President in danger, the world's unluckiest commercial passengers, and Al Powell retired from the force and living the easy life as an air traffic controller at a CGI FAA station. It's poorly made, of course, and pales in comparison to pretty much any "airline catastrophe"-themed movie, no matter how big or how unassuming in the annals of cinema history. Yet it's worth its weight in unintentional laughs, assuming viewers can stay awake during the slow stretches to catch the best the movie has to offer in its fleeting moments of "glory."

Come on people, this movie isn't that bad!

A high-tech satellite system fails. Hundreds of orbital platforms plummet to the Earth. Amongst the casualties is an advanced airline control system known as ATAC ("Auto Controlled Anti Threat") which protects none other than Air Force One. The President's jumbo jet takes off from Cleveland's FAA Midwest Control Center, despite the warnings from veteran air traffic controller Bob Abbot (VelJohnson) who believes there's a very real threat of disaster if the plane takes to the sky. Ignoring all warnings, the plane takes off, and the ATAC system goes haywire. The President and his wife are locked in a secure room, their daughter is missing somewhere in the plane, and the security system sees everything as a threat, including American fighter planes sent up to escort Air Force One down. Unfortunately, other planes have fallen victim to the incident. A passenger plane has lost control, and it's on a collision course for Air Force One. Only Bob Abbot can save the day, using his extensive knowledge of air traffic control and old fashioned resources to prevent disaster.

Needless to say and any jokes aside, Air Collision is a pretty lousy movie. Its merits pretty much begin and end with how it fares next to other Asylum bottom-scrapers, so to say it's not a total embarrassment in that light is probably the best praise one might offer. With that out of the way, on to the LOL's. As is typical for an Asylum movie, Air Collision looks and feels its budget. It's not so low rent that one wonders why the studio even bothered, but Air Force One or any other, similar films this is not. The special effects rise just above atrocious. The planes don't look half-bad in flight, as accompanied by blocky backgrounds and jagged edges as they may be. Yet the film is so cheap that even the tiny Cleveland FAA air traffic station's exterior is a complete digital creation. Add that Air Force one takes off from an "airport" with a tower that looks like it's about thirty feet off the ground and one would think it's some little podunk strip, not a major hub that can handle the bulk and needs of an Air Force One. Anyway, ground shots look like random and pixelated farmland overheads yanked straight off Google Maps. Pretty much everything but humans and basic set pieces are fake; apparently it's now cheaper to make a movie on the computer than it is in real life. That's a shame, because as is often the case with these sorts of movies, it's the shoddy effects work more often than bad acting or a dull plot that suck the viewer out of the film. Just a few more pennies and slightly better effects or model use might actually make these movies significantly better. One can only imagine that there's some financial comfort zone all but guaranteeing a return on investment, no matter how atrocious the end product.

But when it comes to these ultra-cheap movies, it's not just the digital effects that scream out "cheap." Here's a movie in Air Collision that makes Air Force One a primary set piece. Viewers are given access to the belly of the craft. Forget the sprawling passageways and plush seats and ultimate comfort. This is the utilitarian take on Air Force One. The entire thing looks like it's made out of plywood. The set is limited to a room and a corridor with a flight of steps. The plane is protected by an advanced security system and doors meant to either lock people in or out, yet they can be defeated with a kitchen spoon in a matter of moments. Sounds more like a crude recreation for a staged false flag operation than the real deal, and if it is (supposed to be) the real deal, one must wonder where all the tax dollars went ("You don't actually think they spend $20,000.00 on a hammer, $30,000.00 on a toilet seat do you?"). Then there's just the "duh" sort of things that will aggravate the audience, but not necessarily ruin the movie. There's a military base that appears to be manned by two characters. There's forcing extras on the passenger plane to merely flop about and put on their best "terrified" look to create tension. There are passengers who are sucked out of the plane only to reappear in their seats in the next shot. There's the usage of "exciting" music to create "excitement" where there is none. There's Reginald VelJohnson casually going about his business, even in a panic. Yet VelJohnson's probably the highlight of the movie. It's clear he knows this is a go-nowhere payday movie, but he gives an honest effort, even if his character moves with little more speed than a sloth. The rest of the cast merely reads the script and tries to offer up some illusion of urgency and realism, usually to unacceptable effect at best, comic effect at worst. Indeed, Air Collision is no masterpiece on any level, but it squeaks on by as a decent Asylum flick, even if most of its best moments come in the shape of unintentional humor.

Air Collision Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Air Collision presents viewers with a fairly high quality 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. To be sure, there's no shortage of visual nasties scattered throughout the film, yet the vast majority of them are confined to special effects shots. Jagged edges, aliasing, banding, softness, and general visual shoddiness all appear to some degree during special effects shots, whether buildings on the ground or planes soaring in the skies. In a general sense, however, the image offers up quality details. Skin textures are very well defined, and the 1080p resolution allows viewers to easily make out the details of the cheap sets. Colors are balanced and true, never too bright and never too dull. The image does sport that flat, glossy, lifeless HD video sheen, but the whole delivers crisp, satisfying HD material that's only ever truly troubled during those low-rent effects shots.

Air Collision Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Air Collision's Dolby Digital 5.1 lossless soundtrack acceptably handles the film's sonic material. Lip sync is humorously off during an opening montage where a reporter speaks over footage and the film cuts to her mouth moving seconds after she's done speaking. Otherwise, dialogue is suitably clear and balanced, playing from the center channel and never really lost even under the heaviest sound effects. Music enjoys decent energy, average clarity, and suitable spacing. Heavier sound effects, like air rushing through a flying plane with a hole blown in its side, present listeners with a baseline sonic sensation, though the sounds aren't quite to the point that the audience will feel like a terrified passenger. Explosions enjoy decent heft, and there's a good bit of rumble accompanying planes in flight and other heavy effects. Ambience is fine, exemplified early on in the control tower where chatter and ringing phones seem to come from every direction. Though not a lossless presentation, this 5.1 track serves the material well enough.

Air Collision Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Air Collision contains the usual assortment of brief Asylum extras.

• Making of Air Collision (1080p, 4:57): Cast and crew discuss the characters, the plot, and various aspect of the filmmaking process. The piece includes clips from the film and behind the scenes footage.
• Gag Reel (1080p, 0:58).
• Trailers: Additional Asylum titles, including American Battleship and Nazis at the Center of the Earth.

Air Collision Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Air Collision soars above much of its SyFY/Asylum competition. There's at least a hint of effort here, whether in the ever-so-slightly better-than-average special effects, a casual but honest effort from the lead, and a decent premise that lacks superior execution but that's good enough to pass as a "home sick for the day and there's nothing better to watch" movie. There's plenty wrong with the movie, but viewers might find some value in the unintentional humor or as a curiosity to go along with a marathon screening of other, similar, bigger films. The Asylum's Blu-ray release of Air Collision features solid video, decent audio, and a couple of throwaway extras. Worth a rental.