Okay, this was just ridiculous.
Airborne is an action film about a team of heroes that have to retrieve a lost virus that belongs to the government. First it starts out with some opening credits that fly in an unsteady motion towards the viewers against a low quality background. After a quick description of the team called the Mach 1, we watch as several mysterious strangers stalk their way into a secret lab. Managing to kill everyone off with a mysterious gas, they make off with this strange new substance that looks like orange marbles.
It isn’t long before the team unites. Their supervisor, Ron Simpson (Colm Feore) explains the stolen substance, which is a virus. After a long nerdy description of the virus, Simpson sends Mach 1 to track it down. The team consists of brash and bold Bill McNeil (Steve Guttenberg), an explosives expert, Sara Gemmel (Torri Higginson), a chemical engineer who specializes in hand to hand combat, and Romeo Cortez (Philip Akin), a portable artillery expert who also supposedly serves as the comic relief.
So once they reach the gang’s private jet with a giant suction cup from their ship, McNeil proceeds to slide in. As he activates the explosives, the other team members infiltrate the jet. Cortez grabs the virus, but Gemmel can’t seem to figure out how to steer the autopilot and work the plane. It isn’t long before the team struggles and the plane is plummeting.
After finally getting hold of the virus and taking out some not-quite dead henchmen with some cheesy fight moves, the team escapes. Not all problems are over though, as later on the virus gets taken away again. Soon after that, the movie’s villain, Dave Toombs (Sean Bean) tries to eliminate Mach 1 through advanced methods, such as a CD that takes over an entire car, making it lose control.
The rest of this film really isn’t much as action as it is crazy accidents and explosions. Most of the action doesn’t happen until near the end and most of that was predictable. There are a couple unexplained plot-holes (how did the villains know who MacNeil was?) The acting was so absolutely horrendous itself, it could be somewhat humorous. Still it lacked a fair amount of everything it takes to make a good movie.
