Comwayon
A Disappointing Continuation
Livestonth
I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
Kaelan Mccaffrey
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
vinnybarbin223556
This movie does not deserve a long review so I'm going to keep this short and sweet. First I'd Like to point out that the performances by Tierney and Brody are not why this movie does not work for me. Two fine actors to say the least. The biggest problem, among others, is that in order to make many of the scenes work they had to make the cops really REALLY stupid. Morons in fact! About midway through the movie (and I did watch it to the end unfortunately) an old sitcom called Hogans Heroes came to mind. You remember, they had to make the Germans incredibly dumb in order to give we Americans a few laughs. Well, I guess the directors and/or writers forgot that this DOES NOT WORK IN A SERIOUS MOVIE! Do not watch this movie. It is a complete waste of time. Watch only if you have nothing else to do OR possibly while your doing something else LOL. I would have given this flick a BIG FAT ZERO if they'd let me. So I had to give it 1 star. (sigh)
voluptas
I know I'm late in the game, but I just watched the movie for the first time last night. Wow. At first I couldn't believe how bad the writing and the acting was, but then I started to laugh. This movie is no thriller ... it's a tongue-in-cheek, dark comedy cop spoof! After I realized what it was, I was amazed! Brilliant! Mistakes made this movie even better, such as the same gun being used in all the scenes (bad guys and good guys using the same REVOLVER); paint spatters on the kidnapper's boots that were there in the beginning but should not have been there until near the end; the car door that was smashed BEFORE the car chase and subsequent collisions, the fact that Brody was wearing a necklace in the last scene, long after the cops took away anything that could have been used to harm the interviewer during the "private" interview ... these types of hilarious flaws merely added to the genius of this movie. Then there were the absurd scenes that made me laugh out loud. For example, the FBI agent returning a nearly empty book of matches to the detective that Brody, the CRIMINAL, claims he stole from her. Why would an FBI agent take the time to do that? Why wouldn't an FBI agent consider the possibility that Brody could have placed a message inside (which he did)!!! Even the characters, IN THE MOVIE, commented about that being "weird." Or the FBI agent's rant about the death penalty that was so over the top that even Brody's character had to say how stupid it was? And the crazy still shots of the seemingly not-at-all upset husband, looking small and forlorn? It was one crazy scene after another, all done with very artsy angles and composition (remember the cop reflected in the criminal's eye?) Or, how about when the cops were checking Brody's teeth before the interview? And constant Great use of color in every scene.The writer and director are seriously gifted. This movie should have won a ton of awards.
sol1218
**SPOILERS** Really bizarre crime thriller about this mentally unbalanced kook who believes himself to be the reincarnation of legendary escape artist Harry Houdini. This concentration camp survivor looking like individual goes by the name, no big surprise here, of Harry played by a emaciated looking skin and bones, a body that's perfect in escaping from straight-jackets and handcuffs, Adrien Brody.Together with his partner in crime Greg "Handsome" Evens, Michael Henderson, Harry kidnaps both Frances Hannon, Laila Robins, and her pet Pooh,played by Duke the Dog, as she was out walking him outside her luxury apartment house one afternoon in Midtown Manhattan. Held for one million dollars in ransom money Harry demands from Frances' millionaire art collector husband Clark, James Naughton, that if he doesn't get the cash by 6:00 Am the next morning she'll be dead; Dying from suffocation by being buried alive in some unknown location outside the city limits.The movie starts to get really strange when NYPD lady Det. Madeline "Maddy" Foster, Maura Tierney, is put on the case. With the police and Det. Foster casing out the money drop at the Queens Cemetery, where Harry Houdini just happens to be buried, Harry-the Psycho-leaves himself wide open to be captured by walking right into the trap that the police set for him. After a French Connection style car case thorough the city Harry is finally captured and put into police custody. It's then when we finally realize what exactly Harry's motives in kidnapping Frances, and her pet pooch, really were! They turned out to be just as crazy and unpredictable as he is!We also get to see Det. Foster's dark and secret life as a S&M freak that she's been keeping from her boss in the NYPD as well as husband Capt. Tim Foster, Terry Kinney. This strange and destructive lifestyle is quickly picked up by, who's very obviously into S&M himself, Det. Foster's captive Harry! With that knowledge in mind Harry does everything he can to get under Det. Foster's skin making her job, in finding the buried alive France's Hannon and her Pooch, much harder then it already is.***SPOILER ALERT*** We soon get to find out just that the not all there upstairs Harry really wanted to get himself caught in order to prove that he, like his hero Harry Houdini, can escape from any situation he finds himself in. Like being locked up in a jail cell in a New York City police station! Harry also uses his knowledge of Let. Foster's hang ups, as being into S&M, to cause her to lose her cool by hinting to her hubby Capt. Tim what a crazy freak he's married too. In the end Harry like most nut-cases like himself overplayed his hand in thinking that he's, not the NYPD, in control of what's going on in the movie. That leads to Harry ending up just where he put Frances, in a pine box, with him not worried about suffocating to death because of lack of oxygen because by then he wouldn't really need it anyway!P.S Earlier in the film there's a big chase scenes under the Brooklyn West-End elevated subway line that starts at the 62nd Steet station. It's that very same subway station where the exciting car chase in the film "The French Connection" ended with NYPD Det. Popeye Doyle gunning down his attempted assassin Frog #2 after chasing him down, after he derailed the hijacked subway train that he commandeered, and trapping him there!
merklekranz
Adrian Brody gives a very creepy tone to "Oxygen", which is a good thing. Maura Tierney is credible as a tormented cop. The screenplay about an ego driven kidnapper who idolizes Harry Houdini is different and intriguing. His ability to manipulate and outsmart the police and F.B.I. keeps things interesting and for about the first 75 minutes almost everything seems believable. Towards the end and especially with the ending, logic is completely suspended, the plot becomes contrived, and the audience is left with a preposterous conclusion. It is a real shame that "Oxygen" ends so badly, because the movie is highly watchable up until the wheels come off. - MERK
