Oxygen

This is a minimalist thriller about being buried alive in a typically Poe-esque fashion, this time situated in the world of science fiction. It does not come even close to the qualities of Rodrigo Cortés's thriller Buried, which was a real conversation piece and came a whole decade earlier. Here, the screenwriter hides the banal plot behind cheap tricks, such as memory loss and the gradual revealing of things the audience can guess a few, sometimes even tens of minutes before they are revealed in the movie. In the last quarter of the movie, it is sort of pleasing to see the broader backdrop in which the action takes place. But all in all, it did not take my breath away at all. (05/17/2021)

The first “point” occurs to you in the first few minutes, in a one-second flashback from the hospital, and the second comes about an hour later. Overall, the film is a jigsaw puzzle of familiar sci-fi and thriller motifs in which you will also find improbabilities in the logic (the development of the dialogue with artificial intelligence). Or, rather, you would find them if you wanted to seek them out, which you don’t, because it’s quite nice to watch – Aja’s directing is at a high level as usual, Mélanie puts in the work, and the last quarter of the film is a sci-fi visual caress. (05/16/2021)

Alexandre Aja and sci-fi? It sounds like an oxymoron :D But in the end, it works brilliantly. Films with a single actor are always a gamble, as everything relies on their performance. Thanks to Mélanie Laurent, Oxygen succeeds remarkably—she’s an incredibly talented and versatile actress. I was a bit worried that the film might slip into a slower pace, given that it’s set in a single location in a cryo-chamber, but the opposite is true. The unsettling atmosphere, permeated with sheer helplessness, was excellently portrayed. The smartly written dialogues between the protagonist and the AI were engaging and occasionally offered a gripping pace. The mesmerizing audiovisuals also had a lot to offer. And the few twists the creators threw at us could definitely be described as "jaw-dropping." This term perfectly captures the essence of the film. I didn’t expect it, but Oxygen turned out to be a genre gem. Fantastic. For me, it’s 8/10. P.S. And for fans of more horror-oriented moments, don’t worry, Aja hasn’t forgotten you (the needle scene is quite intense). (07/17/2021)

Alexandre Aja has already shown many times that he is a good filmmaker. He directs purposeful genre films, but he does it very well. In addition, I like how he has moved from horror to sci-fi, and even to intimate sci-fi. I really appreciate that. It's really an art to film a story about how one astronaut wakes up in a cryo chamber and maintain tension for an hour and a half. The film is not only played by the excellent Mélanie Laurent, but also the music, which, accompanied by the visuals, works wonders with the film. A good piece! (05/14/2021)

Unless I'm forgetting something (and I don't think I am), Oxygen is definitely the best sci-fi film the VOD networks have offered us so far this year, which, with competition like Outside the Wire and Chaos Walking, doesn’t say much, but still... Alex Aja proves once more that he has the a knack for the craft, but again with a screenplay that is a bit off, so it again doesn't reach the red colour on Filmbooster. When you start breaking it down and analyse it, you get, to put it mildly, problematic moments in logic. On the other hand, the film can surprise, some of the twists were unexpected (although in hindsight they might have occurred to me), Mélanie Laurent is excellent and there are few uncomfortable scenes with mice and needles that were a delight. A nice little movie. (05/15/2021)