You won't be disappointed!

hyped garbage

Fresh and Exciting

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

A young pilot (Robert Downey) finds himself recruited unwittingly into a covert and corrupt CIA airlift organization operating in Vietnam War Era Laos.As of 2017, the whole story of the CIA's involvement in drug smuggling has not come out. The general outline has been known for years, as this film indicates (it was based on a non-fiction book). But we are still waiting for the full expose.This film is good, not great. It suffers from an uneven feel. You want it to be a comedy, a buddy movie, or something like that. It isn't. Or perhaps it would work great as a serious exploration of government corruption. But it isn't that, either. It just sort of float in between somewhere.

Air America is over 25 years old and it's still on my list of movies I watch regularly. It's not that I disagree with those who acknowledge its faults, because I knowledge them too. The things that make me want to watch this film over and over are: The music, which is fabulous... The soundtrack is filled with great tunes, some of which are a little out of the period but it doesn't matter. It's great to hear Rick Derringer and Edgar Winter cover their own hit "Free Ride" and Bonnie Raitt & BB King do a great cover of Dr John's "Right Place, Wrong Time". And Charles Gross's score is a perfect fit for this film. The second thing that makes film so great is the cinematography. The flying stunts still hold up to today's CGI effects and they were all pulled off by real pilots. But cinematographer Roger Deakins makes it all so much better with some of the most beautiful shots I've seen. The way this film was photographed reminds me of the beautiful cinematography from David Lean and Jack Hildyard in "The Bridge on the River Kwai". Air American was filmed mostly on location in Thailand and the lush vegetation and rolling hills and mountains are stunning. Air America is the story of a couple of pilots who fly cargo (and heroin) for Air America, the CIA's wartime civilian airline during the war in Vietnam. Mel Gibson plays a seasoned veteran pilot and Robert Downy Jr. is the young, idealistic newcomer who stirs it all up. When it was released it drew harsh reviews from the big publications, mostly because (according to the reviews) it tried to poke fun at, and perhaps dishonor the real life pilots of Air America. Putting politics aside I never thought this film dishonored the Air America pilots. The film's main weakness is the thin plot (based on real events). The acting is great. Downey and Gibson have great chemistry, and the supporting actors/actresses are also spot on. It cost over $35 million to make this film and every penny is seen on the screen. Unfortunately it never caught on at the box office and only grossed $32 million (worldwide). The acting, stunt flying, music and cinematography make it worth multiple viewings, even if you don't understand the plot or find it hard to relate to the characters. If you can watch it in this context, you might love it too.

Air America fails as a movie because you don't connect with its story, nor with its characters. It's a movie avoid of meaning, or soul.Our story follows the life of Billy (Robert Downey Jr.), who's forced to take up a job as a pilot in Vietnam War Era Laos since his license in the States gets cancelled after one dangerous stunt too many. There he meets up with Gene (Mel Gibson), who becomes something of a mentor for him. The rest of the film is your average clichéd corruption story. The army bad, family good, lovable rogues great. You know the drill.You'd think that movie with both Gibson and Downey in it would be at least mildly entertaining, but the thing is, this came out at exactly the wrong moment in both of their careers. Downey was still just a kid, nowhere near his later star power, whereas Gibson had just begun his long downward spiral from fame. Though, to be fair, I can't imagine how bad this film would have been without the two of them, because it's really the script which is to blame here. The characters have no depth, the villains are hilariously one-dimensional, and the story fails to raise any stages worth caring about.On the positive side of things, the technical aspects work just fine, some of the flying stunts and action scenes are fun to watch and even the story is merely incompetent and boring, not insultingly stupid. Those few things are not enough to save the film, but at least they kept me from hitting the bottle.So yeah, not really worth seeing, unless you're a die-hard fan of either of the two main leads. And even then I wouldn't bother.

Despite his controversial and diminishing status in Hollywood, I'm still a big Mel Gibson fan as an actor. I also like Robert Downey Jr. I've heard how mediocre this movie is over the years from people, and put it off. Well. I can now say I've finally watched it. I now know why I put it off for so long. Gibson & Downey lack efficient chemistry with one another. It doesn't have much action to speak of, and the comedy lacks a big ingredient...laughs!. Air America's two major problems are. 1. It doesn't know what it fully wants to be, and fails to find the proper medium. Instead we get an uneasy mixture of laughs & serious action, which doesn't work at all. 2. The lagging pace issues. There was a few times where I looked at the time, to see how much was left. Mel Gibson seems to be on autopilot sometimes. Others he looks really into it. He has charm and swagger to spare, but it's not his best performance. Robert Downey gives one of his worst performances to date. He wasn't convincing at all, that cocky charisma of his nowhere to be found, here. Nancy Travis doesn't have much screen time, and her character is poorly written. Art LaFleur is actually amusing with his phony tough guy act. Final Thoughts: Talk about a major misfire. It fails an action/adventure, a comedy, and a drama. It has no idea what it fully wants to be, and the result is a mess. You could do worse, but you could also do much better. There is nothing to gain from seeing this movie4.7/10