Airborne (1993)

Director:

Rob Bowman

Writers:

Bill Apablasa (screenplay)
Bill Apablasa (story)

Release Date:

17 September 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

Mitchell Became The Most Popular Guy On Earth...Once He Took To The Sky!

Plot:

Mitchell Goosen is sixteen/seventeen year old kid from California who loves to surf and roller blade...

Plot Keywords:

Hockey | Cincinnati Ohio | Butterfly Knife | Surfing | Inline Skating

Cast

Shane McDermott	...	Mitchell Goosen
Seth Green	...	Wiley
Brittney Powell	...	Nikki
Chris Conrad	...	Jack
Edie McClurg	...	Aunt Irene
Patrick Thomas O'Brien	...	Uncle Louis (as Patrick O'Brien)
Jack Black	...	Augie
Alanna Ubach	...	Gloria
Jacob Vargas	...	Snake
Owen Stadele	...	Blane
Chris Edwards	...	Walt
Daniel Betances	...	Tony Banducci
David Betances	...	Mark Banducci
Jim Jansen	...	Mr. Goosen
Louan Gideon	...	Mrs. Goosen

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:G | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:L | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Bellevue, Kentucky, USA

Company:

Icon Entertainment International

Trivia:

Central High school is actually Western Hills High School, alma mater of baseball greats Pete Rose and Whitey Herzog.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the film, when Wiley is being driven in the back of the van, the ground is totally dry - when he jumps out in the next shot the ground is totally wet.

Quotes:

Mitchell Goosen: Popeye, now there was a great man. Do you know why?
Wiley: He never joined the Hairclub For Men?
[buzzer sound]
Mitchell Goosen: Wrong. Because his motto was: I am what I am. Do you think Popeye ever worried about what he wore just so he could get Olive Oil in the sack? I should say not, Dude. And do you know why?
Wiley: He was gay?
Mitchell Goosen: Because he is what he is.

Movie Connections:

References Ice Hockey (1988) (VG)

Soundtrack:

What God Wants (Part one)

The "Citizen Kane" of teenage rollerblade movies!

Airborne is mostly a teen movie marketed back in the early 90's when the rollerblade craze was starting to catch on. It's like the rollerblade companies needed some more exposure, so they gave these guys a bunch of money and said "hey, make the kids crave rollerblades". With all that aside, it is a rather enjoyable movie. Shane McDermott plays Mitchel, a surfer from California who must move to Ohio for a couple months. His performance reminds me of a teenage version of Keanu Reeves in Point Break. Seth Green plays the comic relief hapless friend, and Seth's parents are played by Edie McClurg(secretary from Ferris Buehlers) and Patrick O'Brien. The parents in this are hilarious and they work very well with the rest of the cast. The moviesfollows Mitchel as he tries to adjust to the very different Cincinatti atmosphere. He quickly becomes a heartthrob thus alienating him from every guy in town. So he pretty much spends the next hour trying to avoid trouble, but at every turn it seems to find him. In the course of this he ends up playing ice hockey/roller hockey and then rollerblading. The major flaw of this movie is the motive and identity of the villains. You see very little of them throughout the movie, and their dialogue is terrible. There is also a huge disparity in the look of the males and the females in this movie. Most of the male cast looks and are well into their 20's (with the exception of the Shane and Seth).. The girls in this movie look like a bunch of 12 year olds... But since there isn't a lot of interaction between the two, it doesn't detract from the movie too much. All in all, I enjoy this movie. I really like the approach they have taken with the Mitchel character.. He's just a young surfer dude who is a vehement pacifist. He is very cool and very not violent (hero's always breed violence in modern movies).. He also makes a couple of Zen-like observations which are fun to watch. The movie ends with a rollerblade race through downtown Cincinatti with the hero's facing the "Preps". The rollerblade race is the best part of the movie, and it is very well played out. This movie isn't oscar material, but it is much better then any other "roller-skating" movie, sport genre movie, and many disney-teen movies.. Jack Black also play's a small role in this, and is fun to watch. I give this 7 out of 10 stars.