Air America is loosely based on Christopher Robbin’s non-fiction book, by the same name. It follows the CIA financed airline that transported supplies and weapons throughout the Vietnam war. The film detaches from the book and follows more along the lines of political satire and covers subjects such as the drug trade.As controversial as it sounds, it’s a comedy… A comedy set in the Vietnam war. This sounds like it would be tough to squeeze a laugh out of, but with Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. during their classic years leading the way, the hurdle doesn’t seem so high.
Film
When I think of the Vietnam war’s depiction in film, I usually go straight for Platoon or Apocalypse Now. Dark… Cold… Rainy… Comedies don’t really come to mind, however when I received a copy of Air America to review, my memory was jolted… How dare I forget a staple in the famous Vietnam War Comedy genre… especially a comedy with Mel Gibson from the nineties (not today’s serious director Mel, the good ol’ Mel).
The film follows a helicopter traffic control pilot (Downey Jr.) who gets fired after pulling a stunt while on the air. He is approached by the CIA to join Air America, a group of civilian pilots who fly supplies throughout Laos.
However, once arriving in Laos, he realizes that the civilian pilots turn out to be shady and over-the-top, one of which is Gene (Gibson), who during official flights takes it upon himself to deal in weapon trading. Throughout the movie you find out that Air America is less and less an innocent civilian run organization, but a CIA drug running syndicate. It’s hard to believe, but there are a few laughs in here… somewhere.
Despite mixed reviews at the time of release and its inevitable box office failure, Air America thought outside of the box. They took an interesting account from the Vietnam War (Robbin’s book), threw in an anti-war stance and portrayed the CIA as drug runners, yet still managed to get a few laughs.
However having Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. together, might have helped the film a little, unfortunately for them… the movie is dry, especially in comparison to today’s popular comedic styling. I felt my second viewing after all these years was a bit of a sad one, I had romanticized this film since I first watched all those years ago.
Overall it’s nice to have a glimpse back at Mel Gibson’s comedic days as well as a flashback to Robert Downey Jr.’s filmography prior to his arrest and eventual rebirth as Iron Man.
Video
Starting off, I’ve always been weary of older films on Blu-ray. It’s become a bit of a prejudice, I’ve always been worried about film grain simply becoming clearer. However I forgot that even though film quality wasn’t as advanced as it is now, a lot of movies shot decades ago can really be enhanced by the Blu-ray digital transfer treatment. At 1080p and using the AVC MPEG-4 codec with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, I was floored by how good the quality was, it may not be showroom demo quality, but from what I was expecting, it was a treat to see a movie from my early years not only preserved, but rejuvenated.
The colors were a little washed and grain still was apparent in some of the lower lighted shots, but the image was clear and sharp. This wasn’t just a cut and paste cash grab, trying to get people to re-buy titles on blu-ray, and not putting care into it… The job was done well.
Audio
The audio in Air America wasn’t as refreshing as the video quality. The English audio track employed DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 Surround Sound however the mix of the tracks seemed a little off, especially in regards to dialogue. There is also a French 2.0 Dolby Digital Audio track and English and Spanish subtitles.
Overall the sound effects, foley and score sounded good, and besides a wonky dialogue track I would say that the audio portion of this disc wasn’t bad, but I expected a lot more for a Blu-ray release.
Special Features
As far special features go, Air America includes, what I refer to as, the basics. This includes at least one audio commentary, a couple behind the scenes featurettes and a theatrical trailer of the film. The featurettes felt a little drab, nowadays special features are a big part of what makes a DVD worthy to own, these featurettes didn’t do much for me. The ‘Return Flight” featurette felt like it was thrown together to bulk up the Blu-ray release, it doesn’t even have an interview with Robert Downey Jr. or Mel Gibson, but rather focuses on B-characters who don’t really have anything interesting to add.
The Audio commentary with John Eskrow isn’t much to talk about, I usually hold high hopes for commentaries. I expect to be entertained as well as learn a few behind the scenes tricks or tips that were used. A few commentaries that come to mind are Evil Dead II that had be laughing harder and louder than when I was watching the movie as well as Kevin Smith’s commentaries which had me in tears… NOTE: When you’re watching a movie and you’re so bored you start thinking about other, more entertaining movies, than something’s wrong. John Eskrow sounded like he hadn’t watched the movie in years and seemed to stumble from tangent to tangent as he ran out the clock… Don’t waste your time.
The features in detail are:
- Audio commentary with Writer/Co-Producer John Eskrow
- Featurette : “Flight Log”
- Featurette: “Pre-Flight: The Storyboards of Air America”
- Featurette: “Return Flight: Revisiting Air America”
- Theatrical Trailer
Final Thoughts
A mediocre movie from 90′s takes a stab at the blu-ray market, with a fairly decent digital transfer it stands a chance at pleasing those who were fans of this movie, however without a mind-blowing audio experience and with pretty plain special features I don’t think it’s worth the time. Air America doesn’t stand well in comparison to other Mel Gibson and RDJ movies from that period in time, thus I say rent it for a few laughs, but don’t expect a hidden gem if you’ve never seen it.
