Early in watching this I thought I'd found a neglected gem. There's a very solid cast. The production values, while not spectacular, are all right. But in an extremely short running time the story spins totally out of control.
The action starts takes place over the course of a dark and stormy night. Right that. The various characters are introduced and we learn a little of their background information. One character, a very self centered and aristocratic man traveling with two bodyguards, quickly is at the head of the list of characters we want to see die horribly.
At first we seem to be in Agatha Christie territory. But too soon we realize that things, well, just don't add up. This particular flight to New York is the sole flight taking off that night- all others have been indefinitely delayed due to weather- and it's a huge jetliner about to fly to North America with about a dozen passengers and seemingly acres of empty seats.
A few characters disappear mysteriously. Where could they have gone? Could there be a killer among the crew or passengers?
Then a supernatural element rears it head. There's a vase on board that's valued in the millions and just may be the residence of a demon.
Then, in the third act, the story turns flat out ridiculous. The control tower at the airport is commandeered by a government agency that eventually decides that the flight must not ever land and is going to use military jets to ensure that it never reaches its destination.
And then the story gets even sillier.
In case anyone wants to watch AIRBORNE I'll leave the final revelations hidden. But the sum and substance is that I watched this on my computer using Netflix and still felt that I'd been robbed.
However, I'll admit that it could have had a few more clichés. There are no children on board, no adorable old couples, no nuns, and none of the characters ever burst into song. That said, I'm sure that there are many cut scenes of actors choking back laughter with varying degrees of success while playing out these scenes.
We never see the demon. Stranger yet, we never even see the vase. Thankfully the film's makers have the sense to realize that with their limited resources they couldn't pull off the effects for a demon. But wouldn't some cast or crew member's family have a decent looking Chinese vase they would let the producers borrow?
Violence is fairly subdued. The first couple to vanish sneaks into a bathroom to join the Mile High Club, but there's no graphic sex or nudity. There are the inevitable bursts of profanity, proving Cole Porter to be correct that "writers who one knew much better words/Now only use four letter words/Writing prose./Anything goes."
Worse yet, the movie is a downer. None of the plot lines come to a satisfying resolution. In the very last seconds there's a hint setting up a sequel. No.
The action starts takes place over the course of a dark and stormy night. Right that. The various characters are introduced and we learn a little of their background information. One character, a very self centered and aristocratic man traveling with two bodyguards, quickly is at the head of the list of characters we want to see die horribly.
At first we seem to be in Agatha Christie territory. But too soon we realize that things, well, just don't add up. This particular flight to New York is the sole flight taking off that night- all others have been indefinitely delayed due to weather- and it's a huge jetliner about to fly to North America with about a dozen passengers and seemingly acres of empty seats.
A few characters disappear mysteriously. Where could they have gone? Could there be a killer among the crew or passengers?
Then a supernatural element rears it head. There's a vase on board that's valued in the millions and just may be the residence of a demon.
Then, in the third act, the story turns flat out ridiculous. The control tower at the airport is commandeered by a government agency that eventually decides that the flight must not ever land and is going to use military jets to ensure that it never reaches its destination.
And then the story gets even sillier.
In case anyone wants to watch AIRBORNE I'll leave the final revelations hidden. But the sum and substance is that I watched this on my computer using Netflix and still felt that I'd been robbed.
However, I'll admit that it could have had a few more clichés. There are no children on board, no adorable old couples, no nuns, and none of the characters ever burst into song. That said, I'm sure that there are many cut scenes of actors choking back laughter with varying degrees of success while playing out these scenes.
We never see the demon. Stranger yet, we never even see the vase. Thankfully the film's makers have the sense to realize that with their limited resources they couldn't pull off the effects for a demon. But wouldn't some cast or crew member's family have a decent looking Chinese vase they would let the producers borrow?
Violence is fairly subdued. The first couple to vanish sneaks into a bathroom to join the Mile High Club, but there's no graphic sex or nudity. There are the inevitable bursts of profanity, proving Cole Porter to be correct that "writers who one knew much better words/Now only use four letter words/Writing prose./Anything goes."
Worse yet, the movie is a downer. None of the plot lines come to a satisfying resolution. In the very last seconds there's a hint setting up a sequel. No.