Airplane Mode (2020) Movie Review

It's Like A Lot Of Things You've Seen Before

                                                              image by Amazon.com, lnc.

A safe option for all movie makers for sure; shooting a low budget cliche, and just letting the people watch it for what it reminds. "Airplane Mode" is using exactly that option. It uses a popular topic, and put it in a concept that has been tried possibly hundreds of times. Put the selfish one in a farm middle of nowhere, lets see if the monster stay as a monster, or become a newborn angel. Now, let's see how did it go.

The movie is about Ana, an influencer on a social media platform. She is just a selfish rich kid, using the infinite loophole of social media to make some money. But also, she's more of an addict, yes she likes money, but she is in it for the fame most of all. She is in it with everything she got. She is dating people so she can have more followers, she is going places so she can take better pictures for the products she advertise, anything you can imagine for more followers really. Her parents are not happy with her lifestyle for sure, but they just can't give her the help she needs. One day, after a publicity stunt by her so called boyfriend, which was basically breaking up with her on a social media live stream while they were eating dinner, she just gets furious. Feeling really upset and angry, she hops on her car. Come on Ana, don't you watch any movies? If you drive a car angry, there's a huge possibility for a car crash, that's a fact. So just like we predicted, the car crash happens because she was on the phone while driving. Charges add up to a huge pile, and leave her family concerned. Until an offer is made for her, either staying in jail for some time, or taking a trip to middle of nowhere, where her granddad lives, without any of her electronics. That choice takes nearly an hour to make for Ana, not so surprisingly. And just like that, she hits the road. What happens in her grandfather's farm, that's very well easy to predict as you can imagine. She meets with people who hate her at first, she meets a boy, a guardian angel more likely, and of course, she slowly bonds with the grandpa. Oh, nearly forgot, she also confronts herself about all that selfishness and stuff.

Even though the plot is boldly predictable and merely a cliche, the social media addiction is a real thing people suffer from, so I guess it does do some good to viewer at least. Ana, the same person who was recording a good morning live stream every morning, is an addict, no wonder for that. So in the movie, we see her recovery progress mostly, which including fixing cars, riding cars, anything to do with cars. Cars are the new therapy kittens, write it down people. Anyways, the movie then shows the viewer how fake the social media is, and how easily forgettable this influencer crowd is. Ana is rapidly replaced with another girl, and Ana's old boyfriend is now together with that new girl, as we see in a live stream. Ana gets sad, but the folk of nowhere have some things to say.

The story is nothing close to original, it's just a cliche we saw hundreds of times before. The topic is pretty interesting, but that doesn't make a movie good all by itself anyway. Characters are brainwashed, the town cowboy, charming prince, is either mentally ill, or just stupid. I haven't seen a more irritating character in a long time. Ana, in the other hand, is not so likeable herself either. It's really, really hard to like Ana, and she does nothing much to prove me wrong, except the last 15-20 minutes maybe. Yet still, the last 15-20 minutes in a cliche plot is where the story goes on automatic pilot, driving down the hill to reach the predestined part, so she has to be liked at that point anyway. I don't know, I just didn't like her. The movie is nothing more than 96 minutes, which is clearly a good choice, couldn't handle more for a different copy of the same formula. Yet still, most of that time, it feels like a drag. The story doesn't have so many supporting roles, therefore there are not so many sub-stories either, which makes the viewer focused at the main story all the time, and that is not that good of a story to be focused for that long.

The movie "Airplane Mode" shows no effort to be different, and repeats the older steps of this formula. It's really hard to call it funny at all, and it's not a catchy romance for sure. It's not that clever to be hyped about watching it, unless you're a critic who loves writing bad reviews, if so, shame on you, you evil mortal.

Cinemortals Rating : 3/10

Reviewed By : Batuhan