adonis98-743-186503 A young pilot finds himself recruited unwittingly into a covert and corrupt CIA airlift organization operating in Vietnam War Era Laos. Air America is a film that you would except that it would work thanks to Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Junior unfortunately the movie doesn't work at all the script is weak and the humor isn't that good and i had to really skip it to the end and just throw it away in the trash and this was so disappointing for me cause i love Gibson movies unfortunately this one wasn't one of them also once again Robert Downey Jr proves to me that he should stick with Iron Man like forever because in everything else? not that good. I give Air America a 4.5 out of 10 it should have been better.

skeptic skeptical Air America has a pretty interesting soundtrack of period music (during the Vietnam war era), which will keep most viewers watching. I hasten to add that the final Fred Astaire track really comes out of nowhere.I wanted to like this movie. It treats the CIA's drug and gun-running in Laos during the vexed Vietnam conflict. President Nixon is shown on television insisting that there are no combat troops in Laos ("No boots on the ground!" Sound familiar?). The plot focuses on the role played by the CIA in supporting the production of heroin in exchange for cooperation of the Laotian military. Some attention is given to the nature of covert activities and the types of people (losers and mercenaries) who sign up for such missions.The primary problem is that there is a real cacophony of tones and messages. Air America tries to be smart, but it comes off as rather lame. Not really incisive enough to count as a serious critique of the war or US policy, nor really funny enough to constitute comedy. Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. are both pretty mediocre in this production, and they are the best of the cast, which abounds in stereotypical caricatures of the usual suspects: CIA agents, senators, prostitutes, Asian military figures, among others.It would be great for people to learn about the involvement of the Caustic Incompetence Agency in the drug trade during the US military engagement in Vietnam--especially since many veterans came home addicted to heroin and ended up social outcasts. But it would probably be better to read some books than to watch this middling effort.

AaronCapenBanner 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.

ianlouisiana Here in the UK we have Harold Wilson to thank for refusing to send our soldiers to Vietnam.There are many reasons to consider Wilson,along with Blair both "socialists",the worst prime minister of the 20th century,but this single action will prevent him (as opposed to Blair)topping that particular poll.He rightly considered America's south east Asia policy to be none of our concern and propitiously declined to be involved in it. The obvious corollary to that statement you can fill in for yourself. That is not to say that the average Brit in 1969 was anything like anti - American.As usual the lunatic fringe made the most noises,stormed the embassy,threw marbles at police horses and generally alienated the very people they should have been trying to get onside. All of this is perhaps a rather long - winded way of demonstrating that Post - Vietnam guilt is not part of our culture,although heaven knows we understand post - colonial guilt well enough. Therefore we can watch movies about the Vietnam war with far more detachment than the Americans who appear to feel the need to apologise for the miscalculations of long - gone presidents and ignore the traumas of the veterans who were conscripted - many against their will,most against their better judgement - to fight in a desperately hostile and alien environment.These men I salute,the apologists I disdain. "Air America" is a very fine movie showing how men involved in conflict take what comfort they can,when they can,in any way they can.From the safety of our cinemas and living rooms we can scorn them and the way they live and think ourselves terribly liberal and morally perhaps even intellectually superior to these grunts,but perhaps we should remember that a liberal is just a fascist who hasn't been mugged. There are no starry - eyed idealists in modern war.The last ones perished in the Trenches - the pilots employed by the CIA were pragmatic skilled professionals who took risks only when no other option was open to them.They flew what they were told to fly and carried what they were told to carry.They didn't spend a lot of time agonising over what they were doing.It is this aspect of their lives that the movie concentrates on.Mr M.Gibson as the vet and Mr R.Downey jr. as the FNG are both excellent,particularly the former,who,along with Mr A.LaFleur acts as though he actually knows how to fly a plane. Sometimes strange and ostensibly undesirable alliances are made in war and I have no doubt the CIA dealt with Vietnamese Army officers and other officials using the most viable currency available - and if that turned out to be drugs,well,so be it.No amount of post - conflict hand wringing is going to make an iota of difference. "Air America" tells it's story straightforwardly and doesn't back away from historical facts,if you want to see history re-written with the benefit of hindsight watch Michael Moore. The soundtrack is entirely aposite and the movie contains the campest version of "A horse with no name" you could hope for. This is a very under -rated movie and one that future generations freed from tunnel vision will see and recognise accordingly.