The earth has suffered dramatic change which has wiped out the most of humanity and much of civilization. Small pockets survive on the windswept surface. Travel between these settlements is mainly done by light aircraft that surf the slipstream from place to place.
Matt Owens (Bill Paxton) is a drifter who travels the slipstream in his tiny plane, selling whatever he can to make a living. He meets Will Tasker (Mark Hamill) at a small airport and offers to sell him some military hardware. Tasker is a police officer and seizes a hand grenade from Matt's stash. Matt storms off but soon learns that Tasker's prisoner is worth a fortune in bounty. Fool that he is, Matt snatches the prisoner from Tasker and Bellitski (Kitty Aldridge) and takes to the air. The chase begins.
The prisoner, Byron (Bob Peck), is an android that murdered his 'master' for reasons that are never explained. As he travels with Matt, he proves to be a talented healer and a font of skills and knowledge. Matt soon views Byron as a friend rather than a paycheck.
There is a travelogue quality to the movie as the characters stop in different enclaves of the remnants of humanity. There is the airport at the beginning that has a truck stop feel to it. Next, there is the smugglers' hideout where Matt keeps his meager stash of worldly possessions. Montclaire (Robbie Coltrane) is the leader of the place. Further along, they come to the cave-dwelling wind worshippers who are led by Avatar (Ben Kingsley). Finally, there is an enclave of the old civilization, people living in a museum of the way the world was and hiding from what it has become. Cornelius (F. Murray Abraham) is the leader here.
Though there is much to like, the movie never finds itself and leaves too many questions unanswered. With Byron quickly becoming the protagonist, it likewise becomes important to explain why he killed his master. Tasker becomes the villain of the movie but is never a villain. With the possible exception of striking Cornelius, all his actions are justified in the pursuit of a murderer. It is peculiar that he was chasing an android and was not armed with a weapon that could kill an android. Really, Byron was only a prisoner if he consented to being a prisoner.
The acting is mediocre. Mark Hamill is the best of the primary characters, playing a hard-bitten lawman. The slicked back and bleached hair gave him an Aryan look, which made Luke Skywalker much more menacing. Kitty Aldridge spent the film acting tough and failing. She was not suited for the role and most of her tough talk comes off as hollow. Bill Paxton is a bumpkin. He constantly toots his horn despite an unending stream of failures and embarrassments. The cluelessness goes on much too long. Bob Peck transforms from apathy to joy to angel of vengeance in the story. In the individual instances, he's fine but, as mentioned, his overall story arc is never satisfactorily detailed. Why should I be happy that the murderer goes free?
An interesting premise that fell far below its potential. Mediocre.
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