Billy is a wacko pilot who loses his last straight job as a helicopter traffic reporter by getting into a screaming match with a driver. He takes a job working for what amounts to a CIA airline in Asia. Billy puts it as, "I'm used to being the weirdest person in the room. Here I don't even make the top ten." There is an insurgency shooting at them, government soldiers running drugs, a pilot who is supplying arms to the whole region, and those are the straightforward sub plots. Air America was the CIA's private airline operating in Laos during the Vietnam War, running anything and everything from soldiers to foodstuffs for local villagers. After losing his pilot's license, Billy Covington is recruited into it, and ends up in the middle of a bunch of lunatic pilots, gun-running by his friend Gene Ryack, and opium smuggling by his own superiors. Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr, two mighty box office draw cards which gave Air America a lot of appeal. What could have gone wrong?! The script just did not work and the jokes are too corny. Ultimately it couldn't decide whether it is an action/adventure or a comedy or even a drama. Very disappointing.<br/><br/>Set in 1969, Billy Covington (Robert Downey Jr.) has recently been fired from his job as a helicopter traffic reporter for a radio station following a confrontation with a driver in the middle of the streets of Los Angeles. Billy is later recruited by a secret government agency to work for a company named "Air America" in Laos. Billy is mentored by fellow pilot Gene Ryack (Mel Gibson) who is an arms dealer who is working on a big sale in order to fund his retirement. Billy and Gene find themselves involved in a drug smuggling scheme run by corrupt CIA officials Major Lemond (Ken Jenkins) and Rob Diehl (David Marshall Grant). Billy and Gene work to avoid being framed as drug smugglers following an investigation spearheaded by the hard nosed Senator Davenport (Lane Smith).<br/><br/>This movie could have been a hit comedy however the end result was a disappointment. Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. had the star power to make it work however it just wasn't enough. Director Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies, Deadly Pursuit) has endured a hit and miss career, and Air America didn't do him any favours.<br/><br/>It was no surprise that this was a box office flop in 1990. 25 years later Air America barely rates a mention for disgraced actor Mel Gibson following several controversial incidents which has seen his career come crashing down, and Robert Downey Jr. who has enjoyed a career resurrection following the success of Iron Man (2008).<br/><br/>Air America was a disappointing experience which is a total shame because this certainly could have been a lot better.<br/><br/>4/10. Mel Gibson knows his action. The man is tops in the genre especially in the mega popular "Lethal Weapon" film series. However, even the best can suffer from an occasional letdown as Gibson has with this 1990 Tristar Pictures release. The time setting is during the Vietnam War and Gibson along with Robert Downey Jr. portrays a pilot who takes on a corrupt CIA and their drug smuggling operation. The film plays like a look into the war service of Martin Riggs (Gibson's character in the "Lethal Weapon" films) and comedy foil Downey just doesn't cut it as a costarring action hero especially with somebody like Gibson. The movie has no script, and even the better gags - like one in which a couple of the pilots scribble away at coloring books in the backseat of a plane - could have been staged more vividly.
Patvig replied
366 weeks ago