Have you ever gone to your local video store and found a movie on the shelf that you’d never seen before, yet the cover has photos of a bunch of famous actors? I bet you wondered how so many well-known people could be in a movie that nobody’s ever heard of before. Such is the case with The Air I Breathe. After having watched it, I knew why it went direct to DVD. It sucked!

This is one of those movies where it features four main stories that are all bound together by a common thread not revealed until the end. Hasn’t this sort of thing been done to death already? Sometimes that kind of storytelling method can work wonders, but in the case of this movie it ends up being an unbelievable mess. Things happen that defy logic and really invalidate the plot because they were so dumb. For example, if some guy robs a bank and is standing on top of a building surrounded by police officers on top of all the other nearby buildings, don’t you think one of them might notice if the guy throws a bag of money off the roof? Do you think somebody might have seen where it hit the ground? That kind of oversight is what brings the whole story crashing down.

The first story feature Forest Whitaker as a guy who makes a terrible gambling mistake and finds himself indebted to a local mobster, played by Andy Garcia. The second story features Brendan Fraser as one of Garcia’s henchman, and Fraser has the ability to see into the future, only he hasn’t the power to change it. The third story features Sarah Michelle Gellar as a Britney-like pop star whose manager trades her off to Garcia in order to pay off a debt, so now Gellar is under mob management. The final story has Kevin Bacon playing a doctor trying to desperately save the life of a woman he is madly in love with, only she is married to his best friend.

The only real reason to watch this movie is for Brendan Fraser’s awesome performance as the mafia thug. He spends half the movie beating the crap out of people and he makes an awesome tough guy. I liked seeing him in a movie like this where he’s not playing another goofball. Too bad most people probably won’t ever bother watching this movie to see his performance. On the matter of acting, the entire cast gave good performances in their roles. It’s crazy to see so many well-known people, including Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker, in a movie like this.

According to IMDb.com, it took writer/director Jieho Lee several years to put this movie together. I was pretty amazed at the cast he assembled, especially considering how the plot played out. On the Wikipedia entry for this movie, it says that most U.S. critics hated it, though it got mostly positive reviews overseas. On the Wikipedia entry, it breaks down the story by saying it is based on an old proverb about the four main human emotions. I didn’t pick up on that when I was watching the movie, but knowing that only gives it a slight neat factor that still doesn’t make me like the movie any more.

In the end, The Air I Breathe looks like it ought to be a good movie, but it really is not. The first half is good, but it falls apart as it gets more convoluted and unbelievable. Don’t waste your time.


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older