“Air” is a sci-fi film to watch and pass the time. While created on a low-budget, fortunately the film doesn’t feel like a low-budget film and the storyline revolving around two-men who must try to save humanity (and themselves) was rather intriguing. An average sci-fi film at best!
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TITLE: Air
YEAR OF FILM: 2015
DURATION: 94 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 2:30:1 Aspect Ratio, English, French and Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English Audio Description Track 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: PG-13 (For some violence, language and sexual references)
RELEASE DATE: October 6, 2015
Directed by Christian Cantamessa
Written by Christian Cantamessa, Chris Pasetto
Executive Producer: Bailey Conway
Producer: David Alpert, Chris Ferguson, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Robert Kirkman
Associate Producer: Rian Cahill, Marlaina Mah
Cinematography by Norm Li
Edited by Greg Ng
Casting by Kara Eide, Kris Woznesensky
Production Design by Brian Kane
Art Direction by Pedro Romero
Costume Design by Mila Frankovic
Starring:
Norman Reedus as Bauer
Djimon Hounsou as Cartwright
Sandrine Holt as Abby
Michael Hogan as the President
In the near future, breathable air is nonexistent. Virtually all of humanity has disappeared, and those chosen to reestablish society reside in a controlled state of suspended animation. Two engineers tasked with guarding the last hope for mankind struggle to preserve their own sanity and lives while administering to the vital task at hand. Starring Norman Reedus and two-time Oscar® nominee Djimon Hounsou (Best Supporting Actor, Blood Diamond, 2006 and In America, 2003).
From video game writer Christian Cantamessa (“Manhunt” games, “Read Dead Redemption” games”, “The Crew”) comes his feature film titled “Air”.
The film stars Norman Reedus (“The Boondock Saints” films, “The Walking Dead”, “Blade II”), Djimon Hounsou (“Gladiator”, “Blood Diamond”, “Guardians of the Galaxy”), Sandrine Holt (“Underworld: Awakening”, “Resident Evil: Apocalypse”, “Terminator Genisys”) and Michael Hogan (“Battlestar Galactica”, “Red Riding Hood”).
And now “Air” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
“Air” is a post-apocalyptic film in which chemical weapons have wiped out most of mankind and the air in the world has become unbreathable.
The United Sates quickly built underground bunkers in which a few scientists are put into cryogenic sleep and will be revived once the air becomes no longer toxic and the bunkers are maintained by a few maintenance workers (who are woken up every two hours for every six months) who must perform routine tasks in order to make sure the facility continues to run.
For Cartwright (portrayed by Djimon Honsou), he is a man driven by the thoughts of his wife Abby (portrayed by Sandrine Holt), while Bauer (portrayed by Norman Reedus) is a man who just wants to do his job, look at porn and get back on the sleeping chamber. But Bauer is starting to grow weary about how no one cares about them, and that the scientists are more important than they are. And that all they do is maintenance and sleep.
But right before they are to go back into their sleeping chamber, a fire destroys one of chambers, and now…one must decide who will go on living and one who won’t? Or will they kill one of the scientists sleeping chamber, so they can go on living?
But while the two men try to find ways to survive, knowing that time is not on their side, will they trust each other, or will one of them stab the other in the back for the sake of their own survival?
VIDEO:
“Air” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1 aspect ratio). Because the film is shot in an underground facility with little light, the film is slightly darker. So, one should not expect vibrant PQ. While close-ups do show great detail, there are moments when the film looks a little soft. But considering this film is a low-budget film, for what was accomplished in terms of set design and visual effects, the film does not look like a low-budget film.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
As for the lossless audio, “Air” is presented in English, French and Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and with an English – Audio Description Track 5.1 Dolby Digital. This film is primarily dialogue driven, with sounds of ambiance of the digital beeps and blips from devices or computer hardware. While there are a few action sequences that do utilize the surround channel, this film is primarily a center and front channel-driven soundtrack.
Subtitles are presented in English SDH, English, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Air” comes with the following special features:
- An Account of Confinement: Creating Air – (8:02) An interview with the cast and crew of “Air”.
- The Custodians – (7:11) Featuring director Christian Cantamessa discussing the two characters of the film.
Christian Cantamessa’s “Air” was the director’s goal to create a sci-fi film on his own with a very low budget and have scenes contained with two actors and to build upon the claustrophobia of the set.
The film about two workers at a facility, Cartwright (Djimon Hounsou) and Bauer (Norman Reedus) who has the job to perform routine tasks and inspections every six months for two hours and keep the facility going until its time to wakeup the scientists who have been in cryogenic sleep due to the air being unbreathable due to mankind’s chemical weapons.
But when one of the worker’s sleeping chamber is destroyed by a fire caused by seismic activity, only one person can occupy a chamber and thus leading to the problem of who deserves to live and who deserves to die.
Suffice to say, as both men have their reasons, we watch to find out if they can trust one another, or will one of the stab the other in the back.
Cantamessa is able to create mounting tension to keep the storyline as effective as possible and not making the film look as low-budget as possible. These films are hard to pull off but they managed to put enough visual effects to create a post-apocalyptic world and then the rest were on the shoulders of Norman Reedus and Djimon Hounsou.
And the way the story is structured, we are not entirely sure, which of the men are good or bad and what is driving them for survival.
The picture quality is a bit soft and because of the lighting of the underground bunker, it’s not going to be a film with a lot of lighting. But close-up does show very good detail. The lossless audio is primarily dialogue and environment ambiance with radio communication or blips and beeps of devices, but don’t expect a film that utilizes a lot of the surround channels. And as for special features, you do get two short featurettes.
Overall, “Air” is a sci-fi film to watch and pass the time. While created on a low-budget, fortunately the film doesn’t feel like a low-budget film and the storyline revolving around two-men who must try to save humanity (and themselves) was rather intriguing. An average sci-fi film at best!
