Uninspiring in its appearance. Barely interesting in its premise. Floundering in its conviction. When it comes down to it, 2024’s Breath seems to aim at being nothing more than a passage of time in no measure of impressive or insulting manner, unless you consider the time lost in watching it an insult in of itself. So then what, pray tell, is such a movie good for? What worth does it offer in any real way? Because as a theatrical experience, I’d be an utter disappointment. From the comfort of one’s couch, it may not even be worth having on in the background. But what about as an inflight showing? Do the conditions of coach class crammed seats become numbed with its viewing? Does it in any way pacify the many other pains and annoyances of laboring high altitude travel? If so, it may be the only suitable way to enjoy such a flick. So does it do the trick? Let’s get into it.
This supposed sci-fi thriller Breath weaves a fairly straight forward tale of single mom-scientist, Maya (Jennifer Hudson), and her genius daughter, Zora (Quvenzhané Wallis), attempting to mend their uneasy relationship amidst surviving a post-apocalyptic hellscape with little breathable air, and all following the recent death of scientist/husband/father, Darius (Common). For with Darius gone, it is now up to them to painstakingly tend to his patient oxygen generator. However, things go from bad to worse when some mysterious strangers roll up to their bunker asking for help, but also threatening violence if it is not received.
It’s hard to fathom as to why writer, Doug Simon, ever put pen to paper for this project or why Director, Stefon Bristol, ever gave it the time of day. Perhaps it was merely for the pay, because of contractual obligation, to pad up their resumes, or some combination of the former. The same could be assumed of the entire cast. But regardless, they all played their part in this unforgettable 93 minute romp. But we’re not here to judge it on a typical cinema scale. We’re here to judge it on plane-ride merit and air-travel promise. So let’s quickly set the rubric.
For the purposes of this, we will rate the flick 1-5 stars in each of the following categories:
Does it fill a typical flight window (90 - 120 minutes)? - 5 Stars - At 93 minutes, it’s perfect, a word I will not use ever again for the remainder of this review.
Does it numb air travel inconveniences/ annoyances? - 2 stars - It does, until turbulence causes it to freeze or the head phone jack jiggles too hard and horribly distorts the sound. This isn’t inherently the movie’s fault. But if the movie didn’t rely so much on the tension of conversation, this wouldn’t be an issue at all. And because nothing else in the film can make up for that lost aspect, it becomes significantly less entertaining and annoying, thus reminding you that the plane ride is making this movie experience worse, just like it makes everything else worse.
Does it still work without sound or with bad, unintelligible sound? And could you enjoy it if you chose to watch it without sound? 3 stars - So, if you can get past the annoyance of trying to get good sound, I’d say it mostly holds without sound. You do lose the core tensions of the mother and daughter struggling to get along, as well as the stand-offs between the two parties at odds trying to suss out each other's true intentions. But honestly, nothing is performed or written well enough to add much more entertainment value. Therefore … no sound? No problem … mostly.
Is it easy to sleep to? - 5 star - Whether you’re trying to actively fall asleep or you just happen to be sleepy to begin with, you can easily fall asleep and stay asleep. It’s honk-shoe-me-me approved.
Is it easy to follow if you nod in and out? - 5 stars - Yes. Even if you doze off here and there, you’ll get the jist. The good guys have an oxygen generator. The bad guys want the good guys’ generator. The bad guys might also be good guys, but it’s the apocalypse, so no one trusts each other. No missed scenes or dialogue will ever jeopardize that.
Is it easy to follow along and still socialize? - 5 Stars - Yes. Missed minor twists (and I use that term loosely) are no sacrifice if you’d rather talk over the flick with a traveling companion. (For more details, see previous question.)
Does it make you feel uneasy on a plane? - 5 stars - There are no plane or terrorist related bits, conversations, accidents, stunts, plot points, or action of any kind. In fact, one could even assume that planes or even the concept of air travel itself don’t exist in this offered universe. That’s how little they factor in or show up in the film.
Does it NOT draw unwanted attention or embarrass you? - 5 stars - There are no awkward or explicit visuals or dialogue that will draw the ire of other surrounding guests. In fact, it is so offensively inoffensive that people might turn away in disgust at its sheer unimpressiveness.
Does it work on a small, low contrast screen? - 3 stars - The visuals are minimalistic. It’s a lot of the same two environments most of the time: Botanic/techno lab-home or generic post-apocalyptic landscape with that classic Hollywood-Mexico haze … You know the one. The orange filter. But that bright orange filter highly concentrated on the small screen does sometimes make things unpleasant on the eyes.
Does it hold one’s attention despite distractions? 2 stars - Most inflight occurrences (buzzing attendants, turbulence, and other potential guests being rude/ annoying) are more interesting than the happenstance on screen. However, there’s still a sliver of entertainment value to hold you to the credits. You may have to will yourself more than you’d like to get there, but it’s doable.
So, is it plane ride perfection? My verdict … 40/50 stars, thus giving it an 80%. So as far as this arbitrary, on-the-spot-made-up scale goes, for a plane ride, … yeah throw it on. You probably won’t really care about it, but it’ll do the trick. However, if you still want more of a conventional breakdown of the film, which I don’t know why anyone would, I can offer a brief one.
The story, despite having a somewhat inspired premise, is fairly basic. The characters are nothing memorable beyond their lack of being memorable. The plot offers some decent twists, but they are hampered by mostly so-so performances, say for one. The only major positive note I will give is to the performance of Raúl Castillo as Micah, the third member of the bad guy group. More or less, he’s just an extra who’s whole part is to act as a hostage that offers the heroes a little bit of a moral obstacle and sometimes a physical one. He does his job and offers the most genuine bit of emotion in the entire movie. His time is short lived, but his presence definitely ups the stakes, tension, and emotion. However, it ain’t very hard to go up from zero. But hey, a win’s a win. And this film, at least when NOT viewed on a plane, doesn’t have many.
I hope this review was worth reading to the end. Because Lord knows getting to the end of the film isn’t. At best, you could probably have it on as background noise (not ambience) if you just want something present while you’re doing something else. Ambience is far too great a word to apply to this movie, unless of course you’re on a plane. There it has a place. There it has a reason to exit. There it finds its wings and … well … I can’t say it exactly soars. But it certainly flutters enough on broken wings to make the journey home.
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