Too much of everything

Powerful

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

To be honest with you, the main reason I like this film is that parts of it were filmed in Mae Hong Son, Thailand, a Thai town in far northern Thailand where I have spent some time. But it's a fun film if you don't take it too seriously.What I find ironic about this film is that its 2 key stars -- Mel Gibson and Robert Downey -- both later fell from grace. Downey made his comeback. It's not clear if Gibson ever really will. Another irony is that Downey crusades against drugs in the film at the very time he was heavily involved in drugs. Ah well.Yes, these were the days when Mel Gibson was relatively young, handsome, and respected. He's good here, although this is not a particularly strong role. It's just a variation on a buddy pic.This was made right after my favorite Robert Downey film -- "Chances Are". He's good here, but he's been better.It was interesting to see Nancy Travis here, whom we later got to know from "Last Man Standing" on television. And Ken Jenkins, whom we later got to know as a character in "Scrubs". And I've always enjoyed character actor, the late Lane Smith. They all do pretty well here.I don't find a lot to complain about in this film. Nor do I find a lot to applaud. I don't think this film is as far from the truth as some of our reviewers do. The drug lord here is clearly based on the infamous Khun Sa (the actor who plays the drug lord here even resembles Khun Sa).A bit of fun with a sort of buddy picture. That's what you have here.

This film has all the bells and whistles, but in the end, it is a very obvious and blatant attempt to make light of content that is extremely serious ie: war, civilian deaths, covert ops, drug and gun running. In Air America, we see good acting, a cohesive plot and lots of action involving airplanes, but compared to the movie Con Air, we never really are able to relate to any of the characters in Air America (if you do relate with the pilots, I certainly don't want to know you).Frankly, this movie makes me sick in the way that the movie MASH and Good Morning Vietnam did: Hollywood's attempts to get some laughs out of the horror that is war. In Air America, moreover, we not only see war, but the seedy underbelly of the U.S. political war machine that is the C.I.A. and U.S.A.I.D. Also mentioned in the film is the corporation Dow Chemical, which produced Agent Orange, which was widely sprayed by cargo aircraft in Vietnam and Laos. This sickened and killed thousands, and maybe hundreds of thousands of people. The music in Air America is the big tip-off that the movie is almost like a psy-op: We are led to associate the activity therein with the pop tunes from the 1970's. I really despise the fact that the producers of this movie grotesquely tried to combine the blood-thirsty, amoral pilots and others in this film with the rock and roll songs that were a symbol of resistance to the war at that time. Creedence Clearwater Revival's Run Through The Jungle being the most anti-war and ill-placed of all. Anyone who swallows what this movie is shoveling, thinking it is just "entertainment" needs to re-consider their priorities and possibly develop some spirituality. This movie could have been a potent warning, helping to prevent the C.I.A drug-running that is happening today in Afghanistan, but alas, the U.S. citizenry is not capable of such integrity to demand this.

Mel Gibson & Robert Downey Jr. play two renegade pilots working for a covert CIA project in Laos during the Vietnam war. Downey is the new recruit who is still trying to adjust to the place and crazy missions he must fly. Gibson is the seasoned veteran who tries to teach him the ropes, all the while trying to remain above the increasingly out-of-control escalation of the war they are a part of, but grown cynical over the U.S. involvement, which isn't really legal, and certainly not public...Good lead stars cannot do much with such a jumbled and confusing story, that never leads anywhere, and is mostly a series of comedic vignettes that struggle to say something serious among the bizarre(yet dangerous) happenings.It just doesn't work.

Air America is a fun, entertaining film in my opinion. I've read a few user reviews and have noticed people who don't enjoy this movie seem to want to label it to a certain genre. I think you just have to sit back and enjoy it for what it is. There are some good one liners along with some great action. The overall story is solid but nothing spectacular. I grew up with this film and probably watched it 4 times before i fully understood the whole war/heroin corruption storyline. I wouldn't go into this movie thinking you're going to get an Apocalypse Now masterpiece, it's just a light hearted war flick.