When I think about the issue of global pollution and how it affects the future we are headed towards, AIR sets the scene almost perfectly. Sure the movie chooses a bio hazard to set the stage for an apocalypse we all know we are headed towards but the movie had so much potential and so much it could have said and stood for, during the 90 minutes it was given to send it's message. Great cast, great plot and a great setting that left me feeling a little wanting at the end of it.
The movie starts off wonderfully with a setting of a post apocalyptic world where the air is too polluted for mankind to survive and the government forced to implement a program to save the seed of human civilization by sending it's most brilliant minds to hyper sleep to re-cultivate and repopulate a world left barren by the actions and negligence of the old world. The plot surrounds two engineers isolated in an abandoned missile silo to preserve and protect the future of mankind as they fight isolation and insanity to decide whether to do their job and protect humanity or to think for themselves and suppress their most basic instinct- the instinct to survive.
The casting was, in my opinion "perfect" to tell a story that could have been very compelling if it spent it's money on quality writers to keep the audience on the edge of their seats as they watch humanity overcome their darkness to reach a climax that reflected our potential as a species.Instead we get an ending that fizzles into nothingness and left me with a sense of frustration at the time you wasted seeing this long and drawn out picture which you could have missed altogether. What disappointed me even further was to see Norman Reedus play a character so similar to his popular Walking Dead character that I'm left wondering if he has the potential to play anything other than what we have grown to appreciate and love. Truth be told, I hate the idea of him being type-caste by Hollywood. Djimon Hounsou was also another example of this project perhaps being rushed or not thought out enough as he doesn't get to showcase his acting talent, leaving us a character that is hardly worth remembering.
All in all, the movie fails to live up to the potential it's concept promises. Perhaps with a better script, a bigger cast or even longer screen time, it could have been a movie worthy of praise.
Review by Siddharth Yadunath from the Internet Movie Database.