Oxygen (1999)

Sadly Over-hyped

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

I'm often asked why I waste my time watching independent films. It's true, that many of them are a complete waste of time, but what I really enjoy about them is that it gives people the freedom to do what they want, without Hollywood turning it into something it's not, and occasionally, I find a movie like Oxygen. This film was just your ordinary story of the police fighting against the clock and an insane criminal, who gets off on messing with them. It had a few twists here and there, but in general it was a very basic story, however what I did focus my attention on was the cast. Being that it's an independent film, two performers who I really enjoy watching, got to step away from their usual roles and try something different. Maura Tierney is usually cast as the emotionless girl with a troubled past, but in Oxygen, she's this crazy, self-loathing, tough as nails cop, who wears her emotions on her sleeve. She's opposed by Adrien Brody who usually plays the sweet, good-looking, exotic stranger, but not this time. In this film, Brody is a deranged psychopath who will do anything and everything to get what he wants. The dynamic and chemistry were both fantastic and I loved seeing two actors, that I know very well, step away from their usual roles and work on something different. If I hadn't seen both stars in a ton of things prior to this, I may not have been as entertained by this film, as the story is common, and very little is unpredictable, however the performances were tremendous and Tiereny and Brody compliment each other perfectly.

"Houdini....who showed us that all chains that bind us are but an illusion." Quote from a documentary about Houdini really applies to this movie.I caught this thriller on Lifetime, where it was titled DYING TO ESCAPE...a more appropriate title.Brody plays such a weasel, that I wanted to choke him.The movie, like a fine wine. has a really great surprise finish and really takes off when Brody gets caught! Shouldn't getting caught be the climax...nope. Watch this movie and you will be very surprised at the twists and turns. Nicely done. Way better than average Lifetime movies shot in Canada, with the trademark sultry saxophone in the background to indicate a sexy scene.The energy between Tieman an Brody is great.I taped it off Lifetime and missed the first 5 minutes, now I'll have to buy the DVD when I see it in the video bins.Enjoy! Enjoy!

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.

This is a pretty fair "neo-noir" presentation, which I'd missed hearing about during the nine years since its release - but found in my paper's local-edition weekly t.v. listings. They only gave it 1-1/2*'s, but noticing that Adrien Brody and Maura Tierney were in the cast, I decided to take a look. One of the best aspects of this flick is the character each represents - two of the most weirdly fascinating, this side of Dennis Hopper and his companions "Blue Velvet," or the cult classic Rory Calhoun opus, "Motel Hell." Brody as the youthful, sort of nerdy-yet-wicked, braces-wearing, nefarious villain; and Tierney as the competent, dedicated, tough detective, with her strange compulsive, secretive nocturnal predilections, sort of a "masochistic savant." Perhaps not great, and with some contrasting moments. Sometimes the cops here were more realistic and "low-key" than in most of this type of movie fare, and at others were the types of doophuses we see regularly, enforcing the law, in these flicks.All-in-all, a good 7* presentation, and not a bad way to spend the two hours' viewing.As a sort of imaginary "sub-plot" I couldn't help visualizing from early-on, I was hoping that Brody and Tierney might meet-up at some point - the confrontation between the quintessential sadist and masochist, respectively. I thought of dialog between them, replicating a joke I once heard: the masochist says to the sadist, "Hit me!" (or, alternatively, "Hurt me!"). The sadist replies, "NO!!" (When they finally met in the interrogation room, there were a couple of occasions when I thought this just might occur.)